Reports: New York Red Bulls on the mend

The New York Red Bulls have had some early-season injury troubles: Gonzalo Veron hasn't played since the team was bounced out of CONCACAF Champions League at the beginning of March; Mike Grella saw limited timefor RBNY's first few games of the year, and was sidelined in mid-March for another round of treatment for persistent pain in his knee; Connor Lade got back on to the field after a long recovery from an injury sustained last season for the last game of March, but a bang to the ribs in the first game of April put him back on the sidelines; Fredrik Gulbrandsen missed the last game Lade played as RBNY took precautionary measures against a potential "groin issue".

And last weekend, as Lade returned to the match-day squad (but didn't see the field), Amir Murillo limped out of NYRB II's game against Orlando City B. It seemed RBNY's 2017 injury problems don't really clear, they just find new targets.

But there was encouraging news for the Banged-Up Bulls out of training on Tuesday, April 18.

Per MSG's Kristian Dyer, Gonzalo Veron was in full training for the first time since he went down injured against Vancouver Whitecaps on March 2. This is good news. Veron's recovery has been a slow and unpredictable process: the last time it was suggested he was ready to start training, he ended up in Argentina. But that trip is to be thanked for his recovery, it would seem - or at least to be thanked for the fact that he's actively working his way back into contention for a match-day role.

Don't necessarily expect to see Veron back on the field for RBNY too soon: per an official injury update from the club, the approach to managing the player's return to competitive action is "cautious". But at least no one has to call Buenos Aires to find out how he's doing.

Dyer's report for MSG is mostly a detailed account of the knee issue that has been troubling Mike Grella since the end of last season. He isn't 100% yet, but is at least back out on the training field. Grella gave a slightly conflicting description of his condition to MSG:

I don’t feel any pain. If I do feel anything, it is very minimal.

And head coach Jesse Marsch advised the player is still, in essence, being tested to see what his knee is able to handle:

The more that he comes away with positive responses the more we can escalate things and get him back to where he’s game fit.

Sounds a lot like Grella's training regimen will be on-again-off-again for a little while as the club evaluates his progress toward full fitness. But, like Veron, he's back to the point where his coaches can start to judge for themselves how close he is getting to making a match-day contribution.

Finally, Dyer reports that Amir Murillo was in training, with the issue that forced him out of his last game for NYRB II game as "a weird cramp". No lasting effects, it would seem.

With Lade already fit enough to make the first team bench last week, and no lingering issues with Gulbrandsen's groin reported: whisper it, the Banged-Up Bulls might be on the mend.