Chelsea defender Renato Veiga is facing a spell on the sidelines after suffering an injury while representing Juventus on Wednesday night.
The 21-year-old was allowed to depart Stamford Bridge during the winter transfer window in order to earn more game time elsewhere.
Veiga had also made a request to play in central defence, rather than at left-back where he was being deployed by Enzo Maresca in the majority of his appearances.
That wish came true during the early weeks of his time in Turin, Veiga having made his fifth appearance against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.
However, Veiga needed to be withdrawn as early as the 12th minute having sustained what appeared to be a hamstring injury at the Philips Stadion.
Medical Update | Renato Veiga ⤵️
— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) February 20, 2025
What have Juventus said?
On Thursday afternoon, Juventus released a statement to confirm that they would be missing Veiga's services for the foreseeable future.
It read: "Renato Veiga, who was substituted during the first half of Wednesday's match against PSV Eindhoven, underwent diagnostic tests at J|Medical this afternoon.
"The examinations revealed an injury to the tendon of the plantar gracilis of his right leg. The player's recovery time will be evaluated according to his symptoms."
© Imago
Major blow to Juventus
In the short term, the injury proved disastrous to Thiago Motta's side as they let slip a first-leg 2-1 advantage to lose 3-1 in the Netherlands.
Prior to his withdrawal, Veiga had completed the 90 minutes in his four previous starts for Juventus, the Italian giants winning all four matches.
Empoli, Como, PSV and Inter Milan had all been defeated with Veiga at the heart of the defence, Juventus conceding just the three goals.
With five matches to be played between now and the March international break, Juventus will hope that Veiga can recover in time to play a part at the back end of that schedule.
Darren Plant
