Star Sporting Kansas City striker Alan Pulido is out for 2022 season. Here’s the deal
Sporting Kansas City striker Alan Pulido is scheduled to undergo knee surgery on Jan. 17 and will likely be out for the entire 2022 season, the club announced on Tuesday.
The recovery time for the procedure Pulido will have is expected to be 9-12 months. The star Mexican national has scored 14 goals with eight assists in 33 appearances for Sporting KC since arriving via a club-record transfer fee in 2020.
“He tried everything he could, and he played through incredible pain,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “There was an amazing amount of fluid after many practices and games that was withdrawn from his knee.”
Pulido spent the second half of the 2021 season on the shelf with a knee injury he sustained while away on international duty with the Mexican National Team in early spring 2021. While issues with the knee persisted for the entire year, they came to a head in October, when Pulido underwent knee surgery.
He returned to action in Sporting’s 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake in the playoffs, going 73 minutes, but that action will likely be his last until 2023.
“I 100 percent agree with everyone that this is the correct approach and should fix the problem,” Vermes said. “So now it is just about him actually doing the surgery and then the rehab and all that.
“We’re going to make sure that every single detail there is taken care of so much that, when he returns, he’s ready to go.”
Sporting’s search for some replacement firepower is already underway. The team initially tried to acquire Robert Beric through the MLS Re-Entry Draft’s phase 2, one of many offseason league mechanisms in which player movement can take place for those who haven’t met the requirements for full free agency.
According to Vermes, the club made a strong offer. Beric declined.
Vermes said that, while he believes there are some current fill-in options on the roster, team officials are “turning over every single rock” to find solutions at the striker position.
“It’s not just about settling for a body or a person, it’s someone that has to fit the way we play,” the coach said.
In addition to Pulido’s injury, Sporting KC will also for now be without designated player Gadi Kinda. Like Pulido, Kinda recently underwent a minor procedure on his knee. Vermes said the midfielder’s recovery process requires he sit out a little longer to ensure the knee heals appropriately.
Among other news and notes Vermes shared Tuesday, the club is still negotiating with veterans Roger Espinoza and Graham Zusi to return for the 2022 season.
Sporting KC players are scheduled to report for preseason duty this Sunday. They’ll head to Arizona to prepare for the season, which kicks off in Atlanta on Feb. 27. Their scheduled home opener is March 5 against the Houston Dynamo.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Star Sporting Kansas City striker Alan Pulido is out for 2022 season. Here’s the deal."