Gustavo Bou Returns to Pitch After Being Sidelined For Nearly 2 Months
“I think you see at the end, [Bou] can be dangerous."
The New England Revolution have gone a month without having a striker score a goal and part of that is due to the prolonged absence of Gustavo Bou. Luckily for the Revs, the designated player returned to the pitch against Charlotte FC.
Bou has been out with a muscle injury in his right leg since the beginning of August. The striker received treatment in Argentina before returning to New England to continue the rehab process.
Bou played 18 minutes in his first league match since July. The striker racked up 15 touches while completing eight out of 10 passes.
While it might not have seemed like a big performance, simply having the veteran back on the field is a major boost for New England. With Bou out, Giacomo Vrioni and Bobby Wood have been deployed as single-strikers and the experiment from multiple coaches has failed.
Interim head coach Clint Peay discussed Bou’s performance after the match on Saturday.
“I think you see at the end, [Bou] can be dangerous,” Peay said, “He can cause some problems and I think he’s a guy that we have to rely on down the stretch and will be big for us. We wanted to make sure that we found a way to get him some minutes tonight, to work him back in.”
Bou’s absence highlights the issues with having him take up a DP spot. He has struggled to stay healthy and at 33 years old, that will likely only continue to get worse.
With Bou’s contract expiring at the end of the season, New England will have to make a difficult decision regarding his future with the club. Unless he takes a massive pay cut, it is hard to see him coming back to the Revolution.
But for now, New England needs Bou to perform. If not, the 2023 playoff run could be more like a leisurely stroll with the Revs heading home early.
Postponing that consideration of 2024 and beyond, having Bou on the field or ready to come in off the bench changes the potential of and lifts the ceiling for this 2023 Revs team.
You can just see the difference he makes for Gil when he's on the field - they see the game the same way. That's probably not true of Gil and anyone else, with the possible exception of Nacho.