Schalke midfielder Weston McKennie kicked off his season in fine form but the 20-year-old now looks set for a lengthy spell on the sideline.
McKennie was carted off in tears in the 53rd minute of Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to Bayern Munich.
The U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder collided with Bayern’s James Rodriguez in the second-half of Saturday’s Bundesliga match at Veltins-Arena. McKennie was caught in the left shin by Rodriguez which saw him fall to the ground in pain.
He was replaced by Nabil Bentaleb as Schalke would later concede a second goal through a Robert Lewandowski penalty kick.
The injury comes at a tough time for McKennie who is coming off a solid showing in his UEFA Champions League debut midweek. McKennie registered an assist in Schalke’s 1-1 draw with Porto, but the side remains winless to start the Bundesliga season.
After x-rays on Sunday, McKennie has been diagnosed with a bruised thigh with some internal bleeding. There is no timetable for his return to the squad.
McKennie was also expected to be in the USMNT’s plans for their upcoming fall friendlies against England and Italy in November, but that could very well be in jeopardy due to his injury.
Bruises usually hurt more the 2nd day, a bruise bad enough that he could not walk immediately afterwards without support is (I think) more than a week-long recovery. Even after he can walk without a limp, it will be at least a few days before he can react explosively and probably a few more days for some caution regarding re-injury. I would not be surprised if he misses 2-3 weeks and comes back as a late sub in at least one game before he starts again, no matter how well his replacement does.
Since he’s been diagnosed with a bruised thigh with some internal bleeding. This isn’t an uncommon injury for physical players. I would expect that he’ll be sidelined for about 7-10 days, then brought back into the side as a sub for a week or so. The threat will be if Schalke start getting wins with him sidelined the coach may not want to bringing him back into the starting XI.
As to his inclusion in the USMNT…. it may be best to leave him with his club in October than bring him back in November for the last 2 friendlies of 2018.
The report out is it is heavy bruising on his thigh, possibly internal bleeding, but no bone damage
Oh no. Didn’t he come out of a friendly because of a knock? I know he is a kid, but even a kid can’t play two games a week indefinitely and train in a Germvan club full speed daily
Please let it just be a knock and not something serious….
omg!
He has his youth going for him. Hopefully it’s not a break. It didn’t look like much on the replay, but you never know.
I wrote the above before we knew it was a bruise. If it is a bad one, I don’t think it will be 7 to 10 days, but more like 2 to 3 weeks. Still, good news since it is only a temporary setback.
At first I was like can’t these guys read then I realized they just updated the story.