Shkendija’s depth takes a hit with injury, release

Brazilian winger Victor Juffo tore his ACL at a recent training, while Croatian central defender Jure Jerbic asked for and was granted his release.

Shkendija will be without two players that were supposed to serve important roles this season, one on a permanent basis (Jure Jerbic) and the other due to a long-term injury (Victor Juffo). Jerbic was the #3 CB, behind Artim Polozhani and Ardian Cuculi, who was expected to play when the club was rotating its squad over the course of the long season. Meanwhile, Juffo was a starting winger who was set to compete with Stenio Junior and Marjan Radeski for playing time.

Juffo tore his ACL; photo: dailymail.co.uk

Jerbic asked to be released after having a difficult time adapting to Macedonia. Jure, who spent his entire career in Croatia before being signed by Shkendija this summer, asked to be released. Shkendija decided to grant his wish as opposed to having an unhappy player on its roster. So, the contract was terminated and Jerbic returned to Croatia.

Meanwhile, Juffo tore his ACL at a recent training. That is a devastating injury that requires 6-8 months of recovery time. Juffo will miss the rest of the first half of the season. He will hope to be back when the second half of the campaign gets going in early March.

Besides those two negative news, Shkendija recently added two teenagers to its ranks. They signed Enis Fazlagic, an U15 national team player for Macedonia, and 18-year old Meriton Korenica from Kosovo. They were signed for the future. Shkendija will likely turn to the transfer market to find replacements for Jerbic and Juffo. In particular, they are pretty thin in defense.

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