22 February 2018
For Benedikt Höwedes, the season hasn't gone exactly how he would have planned it with injuries limiting the German to one Serie A appearance in November's 3-0 win over Crotone.
However, the Germany international has been back in training with the Bianconeri for nearly a fortnight, as he hopes to make an impact on the squad with the biggest games of the season still in front of Massimiliano Allegri's men.
"I’m happy to be back with the team," said Höwedes in today in a live interview on Juventus' international Facebook page. "I’m in good shape actually. I’ve been training for one and a half weeks with the team so I’m getting closer."
Playing for a team other than Schalke for the first time in his professional career, Höwedes has enjoyed the transition to Italian life.
"I like Turin very much. It’s very close to the mountains so you always have a fantastic view when you come out of the house. It’s beautiful. The sun is nearly always shining which is perfect and makes a big difference to my hometown. The Italian lifestyle is nice, I like it very much."
Höwedes is one of a number of German speakers on the team including, of course Sami Khedira as well as Stephan Lichtsteiner, Miralem Pjanic and Mario Mandzukic, making adapting to life in Turin a much easier process.
"I think it has helped me a lot having a few guys here speaking German," admitted Höwedes. "What do we talk about? Normal stuff. We chat about football, free time, booking restaurants, usual stuff like that."
Nevertheless, Höwedes is making a big effort to acclimatise to his new surroundings by taking Italian classes - something he is really enjoying.
"Can Italian become my favourite language? Yes, maybe! It takes a little while to speak it fluently but it sounds a little bit like music, so when you listen to the language it sounds very nice. I’d like to get into it more and more so at the end of the year I can give an interview also in Italian!"
Watch the full Facebook Live below to see the full interview with Benedikt!
