SANDY, Utah – Real Salt Lake announced on Friday that FW Robbie Findley and DF Chris Schuler both underwent successful surgery on Thursday.
Findley underwent surgery to repair a torn right patella tendon caused by general wear-and-tear after being in season continuously since July 2012. Schuler had an operation to remove bone spurs from his left ankle that had been plaguing him for the better part of 18 months. Both procedures were performed by RSL Team Physician Dr. Andrew Cooper at Salt Lake Regional Hospital.
“Robbie initially sustained his injury during the season, and we had been managing it through the end of the year before going in and repairing a tendon in his knee on Thursday,” Dr. Cooper said. “Schuler was dealing more with a chronic injury. We went in and scoped his ankle, and cleaned out some bone spurs. Both players did extremely well in surgery and we anticipate that they will each make full recoveries.”
Findley returned to RSL in January after spending 2011 and 2012 with English Championship side Nottingham Forest, scoring eight goals and adding three assists in MLS regular season and MLS Cup Playoff action.
Schuler appeared in 21 regular season and playoff games in 2013, all of which were starts. The 26-year-old center back began the year by playing every minute of RSL’s first 12 games, then went on the shelf for several months due to a stress response injury in his foot before returning in late September to play a big role in RSL’s run to appearing in MLS Cup 2013.
Schuler and Findley were RSL’s co-leading scorers in the MLS Cup Playoffs, both registering two goals to help RSL to its appearance in MLS Cup 2013.
