This was supposed to be a breakout year for George Bello.
When Greg Garza was traded to FC Cincinnati in December, Bello was considered to be a strong contender for his vacant starting spot on the Atlanta United backline.
Instead, Bello is just battling for fitness and is in a race against time to get healthy in time for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil.
The 17-year-old Homegrown defender will be out for 2-3 months with a right adductor strain, Atlanta United announced on Friday. Manager Frank de Boer told reporters on Friday that Bello will undergo surgery “soon.”
Bello has not played with the first team since suffering the injury in a 3-1 loss to Herediano in the Concacaf Champions League on February 21. He had a rehabilitation assigned with Atlanta United 2 on March 9, but subbed off when he further aggravated the injury.
He returned to training with the first team last week, but had another setback on Tuesday. As such, Bello missed out on the U-17 Concacaf Championship, currently being played in Bradenton, Fla.
Bello took to Twitter to express his disappointment.
