Alphonso Davies’s season seems to be over after Bayern Munich said he would be out for “several months” with a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee. The left-back went off injured while playing in Canada’s 2-1 win over the United States in the Concacaf Nations League third place game.
The news comes as a blow to Bayern and to Canada, who were hoping to have Davies available heading into a busy summer with the Club World Cup and preparations for next year’s World Cup.
Davies’s agent, Nedal Huoseh, issued a statement on Wednesday blaming the Canadian federation for the injury, claiming that his client was not supposed to play in the third-place game but was convinced to by head coach Jesse Marsch.
“Alphonso was not 100% after the Mexico game and it was planned that he was not going to start against the USA,” Huoseh’s statement read in part. “As a captain I feel he was pressured to start the game by the coach. Alphonso is not the kind of guy to say no in those moments. He ended up playing and look what happened. Canada Soccer needs to do a better job managing these players, in my opinion.”
Canada Soccer has yet to publicly respond to Huoseh’s statement.
The Davies blow was just one part of a bad international week for Bayern, as center-back Dayot Upamecano will also miss time due to injury. Bayern predicted Upamecano will be out for “several weeks” with a problem in his left knee after his return from playing both legs of France’s quarter-final win over Croatia in the Uefa Nations League.
“In international breaks there is unfortunately always a danger that players come back injured, and this time it has hit us especially hard,” Bayern’s board member for sport Max Eberl said. “The absences of Alphonso Davies and Dayot Upamecano weigh heavily on FC Bayern.”
Eberl said the team would “pull even closer together now” to make up for losing Davies and Upamecano. “The quality is there to keep on pursuing our big goals,” Eberl said.
The injuries could mean Bayern rely more on central defender Kim Min-jae, who returned to training Monday after an achilles tendon injury forced him to miss international games for South Korea. It could also mean more game time for Bayern’s fringe players like center back Eric Dier, left-back Raphael Guerreiro and versatile defender Hiroki Ito.
Bayern next play St Pauli in the Bundesliga on Saturday and face Internazionale in the quarter-finals of the Champions League next month.