Tyler Adams is once again set to start the Premier League season on the sidelines. Yesterday, at a press conference promoting AFC Bournemouth’s friendly against Wrexham AFC at UC Santa Barbara, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola announced that Tyler Adams was set to be “out for some time” after the 25-year-old midfielder had back surgery.
In response to a question, Iraola said of Adams, “He finished the season with an injury in his back…He wanted to play Copa América because it was very important for him, but he had restrictions and was still in pain, so two days after they were knocked out, he had surgery.”
Terrible news for @afcbournemouth. Tyler Adams out for the start of the season after having back surgery. Felt problem at end of Premier League campaign and got worse during Copa America. Andoni Iraola: “He wanted to play Copa America because it was very important for him, but he…
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) July 20, 2024
Tyler Adams appeared in all three matches for the USMNT during the 2024 Copa America, playing just 45 minutes in the first two matches and playing the full 90 minutes against Uruguay as the team exited in the group stage. He also played 14 minutes off the bench in a friendly against Brazil before the tournament started.
Iraola went on to add that while he didn’t have a timeline for Adams’ return, he’s set to be out for some time. “It is difficult to say how long but he won’t be fit for the start of the season,” Iraola said during the press conference. “But September? October? I don’t know.”
Iraola also mentioned that Bournemouth could not prevent Adams from being called up to the USMNT despite the injury. “It was not our choice,” he said. “It is a decision for the nations, who are allowed to select players, and he wanted to play thinking the injury would get better, but he felt it was getting worse.”
Adams, in an interview with ESPN prior to the Brazil friendly, admitted he had back issues towards the end of the club season, but that he felt that he would be good to go by the start of the tournament for the United States:
“It was my back at the end of the season. But I felt good coming into camp and ready to train, but they were like, ‘No, no, no, let’s just build it up properly.’ Because again, the most important thing for me is obviously to have a good Copa America, but to get into preseason ready to go. I just want to get in a fit place where I can have an eight-, nine-, 10-week buildup into the start of the season and be in a really good place to become robust again.”
It’s another injury setback for the midfielder, who only played in four matches for Bournemouth last season after moving to the club in August 2023. He will most likely miss the September window for the USMNT, which will see the team play Canada and New Zealand in a pair of friendlies. It’s also possible those matches could be the first with a new head coach in place after the federation fired Gregg Berhalter on July 10th. It will mean the other players in the midfield will have to elevate their game to try and replace Adams in the aggregate.
