Michael Bradley will be sidelined for around 4 months after undergoing successful surgery on his right ankle on Tuesday night. The 32-year old Toronto FC captain received the injury during the team’s MLS Cup loss to Seattle Sounders on November 10. Dr. Martin O’Malley did the surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
“Michael is going to have surgery [Tuesday] in New York City,” GM Ali Curtis told reporters on Monday.
“He suffered a very severe and complicated ankle injury against Seattle in MLS Cup. We didn’t disclose that publicly. Because the details of his injury or injuries of players, you don’t necessarily disclose publicly [that] you’re really just working with the medical team and working with the player to try to get them to return to play. And in Michael’s case, he had an X-ray after the game in Seattle, and then we got back to Toronto he got a couple of scans.”
The club initially hoped Bradley would avoid surgery after rehab, which is why the medical intervention wasn’t scheduled earlier.
“He stayed in Toronto for a tremendous part of the offseason and we really tried to work with him on his rehab as much as possible to try to get him to a point where he’s returning to play full strength,” Curtis continued.
“Ankles are finicky. Sometimes they tend to take longer to recover. You’ve got to be careful with those types of injuries and surgery is the last resort, typically, in terms of what you want to do.”
“In Michael’s case, we are going to be careful and cautious about this, but we’re confident that once he has the surgery he’ll be able to return to play,” Curtis said.
“It will take probably approximately four months. Now, that could be shorter or could be lengthier, depending upon how we manage that process. Of course, we would love for him to be ready to go today, but that’s not going to happen.”
Bradley crucial for Toronto FC
Michael Bradley has been in Toronto since January 2014, when he joined from Roma. Ever since, Bradley has made no fewer than 24 league appearances in a single season. The midfielder accumulated 201 appearances for the MLS team, in total, scoring 13, while adding 16 assists to his name.
Last season he had 3 goals and 3 assists in 27 games for Toronto FC. He is one of the highest-paid players in the MLS, his salary – well over $6 million.
Over the course of his career, he’s also represented Aston Villa, Borussia Mönchengladbach, New York Red Bulls, Chievo, Heerenveen, and Roma. Bradley has 151 games with 17 goals for the United States national team, having made his debut back in 2006.
Toronto FC start the new MLS season with a visit to San Jose on March 1. Should Bradley miss four months of action, he would be back in time for the 15th match of Toronto’s season.
