The New York Red Bulls do not have a timetable set for defender Cameron Harper, who suffered a knee injury during Saturday’s home opener against Nashville, despite getting some promising news, head coach Sandro Schwarz confirmed on Thursday.
“It’s not so bad than what we first expected,” Schwarz said as his team prepares for Matchweek 3 against Atlanta United on Saturday. “It’s difficult to say when he’s coming back.”
The 23-year-old suffered the injury during first-half stoppage time of the Red Bulls’ home-opening 2-0 win Saturday night when Nashville SC striker Sam Surridge landed awkwardly on him just outside the New York box.
After staying on the pitch for a few moments, he walked off under his own power while being escorted by trainers. He went straight down the tunnel to the team’s locker room and did not return.
Following the match, head coach Sandro Schwarz speculated that Harper’s absence is expected to be on the “longer” side.
“I don’t want to speculate about when he may be coming back,” Schwarz said on Thursday. “I don’t know if it’s two weeks, three weeks, or six weeks. So give us a little bit more time, and then we can talk exactly what the timeline might be.”
The Red Bulls are already dealing with a surge of injuries during the early portions of the 2025 MLS season. Lewis Morgan was a late scratch for the home opener after he suffered a knee injury during Friday’s training session.
New signings in striker Wiktor Bogacz (back) and defender Marcelo Morales (knee) have yet to make their Red Bulls debuts.
Harper’s versatility has made him an invaluable part of Schwarz’s roster since he arrived as head coach before the 2024 season. A natural midfielder, he has been deployed at every midfield position but has been most utilized recently as a wing-back.
“It’s good to have this flexibility in our roster to have these profiles of players who are able to play more than one position,” Schwarz said. “That’s good to have him and this profile. We have to answer our structure first and look at which player is in the best position.”
Despite being just 23 years old, Harper is one of the more veteran presences on a young Red Bulls team. The season opener against FC Cincinnati on Feb. 22 was his 100th career MLS appearance and he was expected to be part of the solution at left back after the team sold up-and-coming star John Tolkin to Holstein Kiel in the German Bundesliga.
Once Morales gets the green light to play, he and veteran Raheem Edwards will take over at the position until Harper returns.
“I think every year I’ve played, I’ve made a step up in terms of my contributions… I pride myself in being a skillful player who has good physical attributes. I feel like a strong point of mine is my mentality where, if the coach asks me to play a position, i’m going to make sure I play it as best I can… Whether Sandro sees me as a 10, a wing-back, where I need to go to help the team win, that’s what’s best for the team.”
