Luciano Spalletti is confident Kerim Alajbegovic will be able to fill in for injured Juventus star Kenan Yildiz.

Juve relied heavily on Yildiz last season, with the Turkish international registering 20 goal involvements across all competitions.

Yildiz netted 11 goals and created nine more, but he has sustained a foot injury that will keep him out for between two and three months.

However, Spalletti feels 18-year-old Alajbegovic, who was signed from Salzburg this summer, can fill the void.

"The club has already brought in players who could replace Yildiz, because Kerim Alajbegovic is used to playing in that position," Spalletti told reporters ahead of Juve's Serie A meeting with Parma.

"The directors did well there, they followed his progress and know him better than I do, so decided to make this investment.

"We also signed Jeff Ekhator, another young player who has a bright future ahead of him.

"Alajbegovic is [18], he has quality, and is now eager to show all his potential. I am convinced he will give us the full display of his capabilities."

Last week, in the wake of Juve's 1-0 win over Frosinone, Spalletti was critical of striker Randal Kolo Muani.

However, Spalletti defended his comments.

He said: "I said so many good things about Kolo Muani, but you only paid attention to the one negative comment.

"We want to put him in a condition to give back all the faith that we put in him. He is a very good player at getting the ball, and difficult to keep up with when he sets off in a gallop.

"I merely said that he needs to pay attention to the fact he hasn't played regularly and you can lose something when that happens. In a game like this, you need to carry the can."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Juventus - Francisco Conceicao 

Conceicao had the most touches in the opposition box (12) and attempted the most take-ons (eight, four successful) on Serie A Matchday one.

Parma are one of two teams, along with Torino, against whom the winger has already provided two assists in the top flight.

Parma - Enrico Delprato

Delprato is the only current Parma player to have scored against Juve in Serie A (in a 2-2 draw in 2024).

He is one of three defenders with the most shots in Serie A after MD1 (three), level with Hassane Kamara and Thierry Correia.

MATCH PREDICTION: JUVENTUS WIN

Juve have won 28 Serie A matches against Parma; in the top flight, only Roma (37) and Milan (30) have achieved more wins against them.

In fact, Juve have scored 103 goals against Parma, a tally only bettered by Roma (105).

Parma are the side against whom Juve have played the most home Serie A matches while always scoring, with the Bianconeri netting at least one goal in all 28 of those encounters.

Juve are looking to win their first two Serie A matches for the third consecutive season, doing so each time with a different coach (Thiago Motta, Igor Tudor and Luciano Spalletti).

Despite winning their last two opening home games in Serie A, Juve have failed to win two of their last five (D1 L1), which is the same number of times they failed to win their opening home game in the previous 20 seasons combined (D1 L1), since the 2000-01 campaign.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Juventus - 73.7%

Draw - 16.5%

Parma - 9.8%