Fulham will not have the services of veteran defender Tim Ream for the remainder of the English Premier League season.
Ream, who suffered a fractured arm in Sunday’s 2-1 home loss to Manchester City, is set to have surgery on Wednesday, the club announced. The 35-year-old is expected to make a full recovery ahead of Fulham’s preseason camp this summer.
Ream suffered his injury in the 22nd minute at Craven Cottage after getting tangled up with Julian Alvarez on a loose ball. Alvarez accidentally stepped on Ream’s arm, forcing the center back to be replaced by Issa Diop not long after suffering the injury.
The U.S. men’s national team defender had featured in all 33 of Fulham’s league matches this season, and was a major contributor to the success under Marco Silva so far. Ream had paired with fellow USMNT defender Antonee Robinson on the left side of Silva’s formation.
“Tim Ream probably won’t play no more this season. He’s broken his arm,” Silva originally said postmatch after the defeat.
Fulham’s six losses from its past eight league matches have caused the London-based club to drop to 10th in the EPL table. With only five matches remaining this season, Fulham would need to win at least four of them to have a shot at the top-six.
Up next for Fulham is a midweek trip to Liverpool on Wednesday before final matches against Leicester City, Southampton, Crystal Palace, and Manchester United to end its schedule.
Definitely sucks for Tim and Fulham. For the national team…… I suppose if the ultimate goal is collecting regional hardware- this puts a big crimp in things. If the end game- we are razor focused on setting ourselves up for WC success, maybe not a bad thing- forces our hand to do the right thing for the long haul. Tim most probably won’t be a starting CB next WC and integrating, getting minutes in competitive matches, tournament play for younger players only helps their development.
Pretty much settles that. He won’t be apart of the USMNT this summer.