Confirmed: Alan Pulido Injured and to Miss 3-4 Weeks

Update on 11/6/20: Sporting KC has confirmed Pulido is injured and is week-to-week.

ESPN Mexico’s Leon Lecanda is reporting that Sporting Kansas City striker — and most expensive transfer in club history — Alan Pulido is injured and will miss the next three to four weeks. The injury was reportedly picked up in practice and is to Pulido’s medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

We have reached out to the team to confirm the information but as of press time haven’t received a response.

If the news is true, it would be a big blow to Sporting KC who have been a strong team with Pulido in the starting lineup. He leads the team in goals (6 - tied with Johnny Russell and Gadi Kinda) and assists (5). That’s across just 12 appearances (11 starts) and 962 minutes (in league play). Pulido has missed a decent amount of time with a previous injury as well as an international call-up to Mexico that include a lengthy quarantine upon returning.

The “three to four week” timeframe will of course cause Pulido to miss the final game of the season and likely at least one playoff game. The playoffs don’t start until November 20th due to a FIFA International break.

SKC are 8-2-1 in games where Alan Pulido starts. That’s quite the impact. In the games he missed or didn’t start the team is just 3-2-2.

When Pulido isn’t available Sporting KC have gone with a variety of options at center forward. The team has played Khiry Shelton and Erik Hurtado primarily, but they’ve also played midfielder Gadi Kinda as a false nine. In terms of production, Hurtado has probably been the strongest as he’s scored four goals in just 331 minutes of action. Most of those goals have come as a sub as the club is 0-2-1 when he starts.

The Blue Testament will bring you more on Pulido and the rest of SKC as the playoffs rapidly approach. We’ll attempt to get the information from Peter Vermes at Friday’s press conference.