Timbers star midfielder Diego Valeri is expected to miss at least five months because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
The injury occurred in the first half of Saturday’s 2-0 win at FC Dallas in the Timbers final match of the season. Valeri, 28, played about 15 minutes after the injury, but was replaced at halftime.
The surgery will be scheduled once the injury has stabilized, the team announced on Tuesday. Surgery will be performed by Dr. Richard Edelson at Sports Medicine Oregon in Tigard, Ore.
In his second season with the Timbers, the Argentine scored 11 goals and added 14 assists — both team highs. The 11 goals marks the first time in the Timbers’ four Major League Soccer seasons that one of their players has scored more than 10 goals.
Valeri’s 14 assists were tied for second most in the league this season, behind only the 19 assists of Landon Donovan.
Considered one of the best attacking players in MLS, Valeri played in the MLS All-Star Game in Portland in August and had an assist on Donovan’s game-winning goal as the MLS All-Stars defeated Bayern Munich.
The Timbers will start 2015 without two significant players. Midfielder Will Johnson, the team captain, is recovering from a broken leg suffered on Sept. 27. He is expected to miss at least six months, which would mean a return to training in early April.
This is the second season in a row that a Timbers player has suffered a significant knee injury in the final game of the season.
Last year, Rodney Wallace tore an ACL in the Timbers’ loss to Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference finals. He missed the first 16 games of this season, seeing his first action on June 27. A similar recovery and rehabilitation for Valeri would mean the Timbers are without their best player for at least half of next season.
Prior to this season, Valeri had surgery for a sports hernia after playing the latter phase of 2013 and the playoffs with that injury.
In his first season with Portland, Valeri scored 10 goals and had 13 assists.
