Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 10y

Vidal to return to action with Juventus

Arturo Vidal is set to make his first appearance of preseason in Saturday's Trofeo TIM tournament, involving Juventus, AC Milan and Sassuolo.

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The Chilean's future has been the subject of speculation this summer, which Juve's general manager Beppe Marotta tried to bring an end to on Wednesday, and he has now posted on Twitter that he has been given the green light to pull on a Bianconeri shirt again this weekend.

"I'm ready to play in the Trofeo TIM on Saturday," wrote the 27-year-old, who has been training individually due to a knee injury he picked up towards the end of last season.

He had a knee operation in May and there were doubts he would be ready for the World Cup, although he did go on to represent his country in Brazil. However, since returning to Turin, he has yet to return to full training due to ongoing concerns about the injury.

With Vidal now looking likely to stay with Juve this season, the president of the club's biggest backer Fiat, John Elkann, is looking forward to the future with optimism.

"This is the start of an ambitious new cycle," he told reporters at Villar Perosa, where the Juventus first team beat the club's youth team 6-1 on Wednesday. "We had a productive transfer market with big players arriving, such as [Patrice] Evra and other youngsters like [Alvaro] Morata and [Roberto] Pereyra. You can see how the new signings have settled in well too.

"We always have big ambitions and we have a coach and a team capable of giving us plenty of satisfaction in the future. We have a coach [Massimiliano Allegri] who already feels part of the family, even though he has only just arrived here. Furthermore, he's confessed to me that he was a Juve fan -- he used to have a poster of [Michel] Platini on his bedroom wall."

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