ONLY IN AMNEWYORK
HARRISON, N.J. — Lewis Morgan did everything he possibly could to avoid surgery on his hip, but after taking a penalty during the Leagues Cup quarterfinal against the Philadelphia Union on Aug. 8, he knew there was no other option.
“As soon as I planted on the left side to take the penalty, I immediately knew I was in trouble again,” he told amNewYork.
This was the agonizing game that the New York Red Bulls’ star Scottish midfielder was contending with all season with that nagging hip injury, which dated back much earlier to when he was initially — and officially — labeled as injured during a June 3 match against Orlando.
In fact, this was an issue that he encountered from the very start of the 2023 season when he suffered the initial injury, which was a tear of the psoas muscle, which is located on either side of the vertebral column — one of the most significant muscles within that location.
“The actual first time I injured my hip was the first game against Orlando last year, the very first game, 20 minutes in,” Morgan said. “I played the full game in a lot of pain. I’ve never really had any injuries, especially muscle injuries.
“Then I reinjured myself in the first three games of the season and they ended up being really, really severe. Psoas tears, which is unheard of and there were some of our doctors that have never even seen a psoas tear never mind the severity of the grade tears I was having.”
Throughout a professional career that has spanned two continents and stints at major clubs like Scottish giants Celtic and fallen English notables, Sunderland, Morgan was always able to escape any major injury issues for a decade.
But one season of issues suddenly tweaks that reputation — and quickly.
“One of the hardest things was almost being looked at as someone who always gets injured,” he said. “I’ve never been injured, never missed a training session. Never. I was as clean as it comes. I almost didn’t believe that these injuries were happening. The last thing you want to be labeled as is someone who isn’t available to play because it’s something I always prided myself on.”
After leading the Red Bulls with 14 MLS goals and 18 in all competitions two years ago — his first with the Red Bulls — Morgan’s 2023 campaign was limited to just five league matches and that now-famous missed penalty attempt in the Leagues Cup quarterfinals during his buildup toward a return.
Without his services, New York struggled to find consistent goal-scoring. They were near the bottom of the Eastern Conference with just 36 goals scored in league play. Only NYCFC and Toronto FC scored fewer.
“Matchdays were the worst days of the week for me,” Morgan said. “It’s not that I didn’t watch the games, but it’s so hard watching them and thinking that you should be out there and contributing and helping the team.”
All the while he was in limbo, harboring the initial belief that only rest and rehab would be enough to get him back on the field.
“As soon as the injuries would happen, I knew they were really bad, and then a few days would go by and I’m like ‘OK, I think I can rehab this and get back,’ because you feel a bit better,” Morgan said. “Eventually, it got to a point where I couldn’t even take a penalty without injuring myself. That’s when we knew we needed to fix this with surgery.”
He is nearly back to the “100% Lewis Morgan,” now with New York’s regular season beginning on Feb. 25 at Nashville SC, but he’s not quite there, yet. The last “5-10%” as he describes it will come from on-field work and game-like scenarios.
However, he played an important 10 minutes in the Red Bulls’ final preseason game on Saturday, which was his first game action in seven months.
“When I think back on it, it seems like forever ago. But I think we’re right there at the very end,” Morgan said. “I’ve just learned a lot about my body and I’ve learned not to take this sport for granted as well, and take my body and my health for granted.”
Waiting for him will be a new-look Red Bulls team that brought in considerable attacking help in the midfield with the signing of Swedish international and Bundesliga veteran, Emil Forsberg, who can help build one of the more imposing duos in MLS alongside Morgan.
“I’m very happy for Lewis that he’s back after such a long time away,” Forsberg said. “We were all very, very happy on Saturday when he had those minutes. He’s been working well, training very hard to come back and we’re all excited. We have to give him time… it’s important that he does it in his own tempo. He’s a proven player, he’s a great player, and he’s going to be a very important player for us. I hope to play alongside him on the pitch soon.
