Brooks Lennon sidelined 4-6 months after successful shoulder surgery

What the long-term injury means for the player and team.

Atlanta United announced today that Brooks Lennon underwent surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder that occurred in Atlanta United’s 2-1 loss to Inter Miami in the opening game of their playoff series in late October, and that the right-sided player will be out of action for 4-6 months.

That’s a much more significant period of time on the mend than many of us imagined, and it’s worth breaking down what this will mean for both the player and team during an offseason that is expected to be marked by plenty of turnover and talent injection into the roster.

For Lennon…

It’s obviously a devastating diagnosis for any soccer player to have to miss months instead of weeks with an injury. It means the player is going to lose a measure of fitness — something that has always been a strong suit of Lennon’s profile. Not only that, but during an offseason where turnover is expected on all fronts of the roster, front office and coaching staff, Atlanta United is going to have to plan around this absence.

But regardless of what moves Atlanta makes or doesn’t make, Lennon is likely to find himself in a battle for a regular starting position in the coming year. Lennon signed a contract extension at the end of the 2022 season that is guaranteed for one more year, through 2025. It’s logical that the club saw him as a cornerstone player for Gonzalo Pineda and the way he preferred to set up his teams, making Lennon a regular starter throughout his tenure. But with a new coach coming in, as well as with an emerging attacking fullback on the other side of the field in Pedro Amador, it seems plausible that a different kind of profile could be preferred at the right back position in 2025.