The midfielder suffered the injury in a fall after contesting a header in a game for his German club, who confirmed the nature of the damage
U.S. Men’s National Team star Weston McKennie will be ruled out ‘for a while’ after dislocating his shoulder playing for Schalke in Germany.
The 21-year-old was stretchered off after just 13 minutes of the Bundesliga game against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday. Schalke were able to overcome the loss of McKennie, who lined up in central defence as opposed to his more usual place in midfield, and the dismissal of goalkeeper Alexander Nubel to emerge with a 1-0 win.
Manager David Wagner confirmed the nature of McKennie’s injury, but was unable to add much more detail, except that he could be out for an extended period.
“Weston has dislocated his shoulder and is in hospital right now,” the former Huddersfield boss told a press conference after the game.
“We don’t yet know if he’ll need an operation. He will definitely be out for a while.”
McKennie was injured in a fall after an aerial duel, and was clearly in some discomfort as he was stretchered from the field.
The victory saw Schalke rise to fourth in the Bundesliga table, one point clear of Bayern Munich in fourth.
The top four teams at the end of the season will play in the 2020-21 Champions League.
The Texas native was playing in his 13th match of the season, having played a role in each game for which he was available. He missed two games in October with a muscle injury, but this lay off looks like being much longer.
He has played more than 20 games in each of the last two seasons in Germany, becoming a fixture in a Schalke side that finished a disappointing 14th last year after being runners-up to Bayern the season before.
He has become almost indispensable to Gregg Berhalter in the national team set up too.
He scored in the quarter and semi-finals of the Gold Cup this summer, and was handed the captain’s arm band for the final, although the U.S. were defeated in that match by Mexico.
He has played all four Concacaf Nations League games, scoring a first half hat-trick against Cuba in the opening game of that tournament.
Berhalter’s men don’t suit up again until March, but there’s no guarantee McKennie will be fit to play against Netherlands in that match.
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