Gianluigi Buffon Will Return to Juventus First Team 'Straight Away' Confirms Allegri

Massimiliano Allegri has confirmed that club legend Gianluigi Buffon will be put straight back into the Juventus starting line-up once he is cleared to return from his injury lay-off.

The 39-year-old keeper hasn't played a single minute of football since the start of December after picking up a problem with his calf muscle.

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This gave former-Arsenal man Wojciech Szczesny the opportunity to fill in, with the Polish international keeping ten clean sheets in 15 appearances in an impressive run in the side.

The latest shut-out from Szczesny came with Juve’s 1-0 win over Genoa on Monday, but Allegri has confirmed that the 27-year-old will make way for his Italian teammate soon, after Buffon returned to training this week.

"Buffon will return in the week, he's ready to do so and so are others," Allegri told Premium Sport. "He's the starter, even if Szczesny is having an impressive season."

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The Juve boss also declined the opportunity to respond to Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri’s claim that Allegri’s side would benefit from kicking-off earlier than the Serie A frontrunners in coming week.

"It's not up to me when we play, I won't reply to Sarri who should be happy with the result [a 1-0 win against Atalanta on Sunday] and being top of the league," said Allegri.

"It's a beautiful duel at the moment. I have nothing more to say. There are governing bodies who can respond to this, I don't understand how the calendar works."