Richie Williams Offers Injury Updates for Gustavo Bou, Henry Kessler & Andrew Farrell

The hits keep coming for New England

Photo By: © J. Alexander Dolan

Everything seems to be going against the New England Revolution as of late. Whether it be Bruce Arena’s absence, Djordje Petrovic’s transfer, or now injury worries, life hasn’t been great for the Revs.

Richie Williams met with the media and when asked by our own Seth Macomber about Macomber’s report that Gustavo Bou was in Argentina, Williams stated that Bou would be out for four weeks.

“With Gustavo, he is out for four weeks or so, we thought the best thing would be for him to go to Argentina,” the coach said. “His treatment is there, he’s doing two to three treatments a day in Argentina. He’ll be back shortly and healthy, and back into the team.”

Heading into a crucial part of the season, New England will once again be without a Designated Player. Bou himself has struggled with injuries and Carles Gil has battled with injuries as well.

Luckily Giacomo Vrioni and Bobby Wood have been able to find the back of the net but both have also dealt with injuries and occasionally struggled with consistency. Wood has scored seven goals so far in 2023 but hasn’t scored since the end of June.

Vrioni has been the hot hand as of late. The 24-year-old performed well recently as he scored a hat trick in the match against Atletico de San Luis.

New England is also struggling to stay healthy in the back. Brandon Bye is out for the season and Henry Kessler has been out since April. With Kessler out, the Revolution have been relying heavily on Andrew Farrell and Dave Romney.

But with these minutes can come some wear and tear. Farrell was seen training off to the side on Tuesday. Williams gave an update on the timeline for Kessler’s return as well as Farrell’s status.

“Andrew is day-to-day,” Williams said. “We’ll see how he’s doing, he’s up and around and moving, but like I said he’s day-to-day.

“Henry is moving along quite well,” the coach added. “He’s been out on the field now, and he’s running and doing some ball work. But he’s still a ways away in terms of getting back with the team. We’ll look at it day by day and week by week, but he is making progress.”

If Farrell were to miss time, either Omar Gonzalez or Christian Makoun would have to step into the starting XI. Gonzalez hasn’t appeared in a match since mid-July and he hasn’t started a match since May 31st.

Makoun has also struggled to get playing time as he has dealt with his own injury issues. The Venezuelan hasn’t played since July.

So New England will have more obstacles to hurdle when they return to MLS action on Saturday. Beyond missing their head coach and sporting director and selling the best goalkeeper in MLS, the Revolution will also need to fill the hole left in the attack with the absence of their DP striker.

Maybe things will finally start going the Revs way when they face Montreal… or maybe more gas will be dumped on the fire that has engulfed New England in recent weeks.