New York Red Bulls star forward Lewis Morgan will miss six weeks after undergoing successful knee surgery on Tuesday, the team announced Thursday afternoon.
The 28-year-old forward suffered the injury just during training one day before his team’s home opener on March 1 against Nashville SC, which made him a late scratch for the 2-0 victory.
While initially given a week-to-week timeline following the injury, he missed last week’s scoreless draw against Atlanta without a concrete, public prognosis. Head coach Sandro Schwarz was only able to confirm that it was his knee and not his surgically-repaired hip that limited him to just five MLS matches during the 2023 season.
Morgan was coming off one of his most successful campaigns as a professional, which garnered considerable accolades in the process. Scoring 13 goals, he was awarded the MLS Comeback Player of the Year and was named to the Scottish national team for the Euro 2024.
During the offseason, he and the Red Bulls were able to work out a two-year contract extension with options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, as well, imploring that he “always wanted to stay here.”
He was projected to round out an imposing attack for the Red Bulls, who made a surprising run to the MLS Cup Final despite finishing seventh in the Eastern Conference last year. New York acquired former PSG and Bayern Munich striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting as a fixture up front, where he was set to create a partnership with Morgan, who is capable of playing both striker and winger, and playmaking midfielder Emil Forsberg.
Morgan was replaced by 20-year-old Mohammed Sofo in the home opener — he scored seven minutes into his first-ever MLS start that night — and 16-year-old wunderkind Julian Hall down in Atlanta last weekend.
Should New York choose to go with two strikers up front, both youngsters will be in play. However, the club still awaits the debut of 20-year-old Polish striker Wiktor Bogacz, who is dealing with a back issue and becomes the favorite to step in up front.
