Bruce Arena cautious about Carles Gil return in 2020

Ever since Carles Gil’s surgeon stated that Gil was ready to start individual training, Revolution fans have run wild with dreams of the midfielder making a return and leading New England to the promised land in 2020. Head Coach Bruce Arena wants you to hold your horses.

Gil’s surgeon stated that he could return to individual training and that’s exactly what he did. On Tuesday video of Gil at New England’s facilities was posted on the club’s Twitter and there was footage of him working out.

Now it’s not like that was anything intense but it’s definitely a good sign. Revolution fans have been desperately waiting to see Gil back on the pitch.

But Arena says we might not see Gil get some serious playing time for a while. When asked about the surgeon’s post, Arena seemed to indicate that there is still a lot to learn about Gil’s health and his possible return to the starting XI.

He said. “I haven’t had any contact with his surgeon. It’s nice that he’s able to do all of that. We will see where he’s at. Our expectations right now are that he’s not going to be available for a while. We have not yet seen him on the field, so any thoughts of him being on the field shortly are probably not accurate. But we’ll see how he’s progressing, and hopefully he could return in 2020.”

The door doesn’t seem completely shut on the 2020 season but Arena didn't exactly guarantee that Gil will be back by the end of the season.

Getting a player like Gil back would be great for the Revolution. He is great at distributing the ball and makes every player around him better.

The return of Gil could also help a player like Adam Buksa find his form and start scoring some goals. Having a player that can distribute the ball at Gil’s level could jumpstart his scoring.

Diego Fagundez was asked about Gil possibly returning in 2020 and admitted that it would be “huge.”

He said. “We’ve all been in contact with him and we’ve seen what he’s been doing. He went back home, did some treatment and some rehab, and he’s doing well. Now we just have to slowly get him prepared for training. Hopefully, if we can get on the field before the year ends that’d be great. But if not, we have other guys to step up. Now we just have to make sure that he’s ready and we’re all ready for what’s to come.”

This is just the beginning for Gil. As the post from the surgeon said, it looks like Gil can begin training with the team in two weeks barring any setbacks.

But Arena will want to be careful with Gil and not rush him back too quickly. New England doesn't want Gil to end up injured again.