Galaxy’s Dos Santos needs hernia surgery, out for tourney

CARSON, Calif. (AP) — LA Galaxy midfielder Jonathan Dos Santos will miss the upcoming MLS restart tournament to have hernia surgery.

The Galaxy announced Dos Santos’ injury Wednesday.

The club says Dos Santos will be sidelined for roughly six weeks by the minimally invasive surgery, which will be conducted at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Santa Monica.

Dos Santos is one of the Galaxy’s three designated players along with star forwards Javier “Chicharito” Hernández and Cristian Pavón. He has also played alongside Hernández with Mexico’s national team since 2009.

The Galaxy will be short-handed in Orlando without two starters. New winger Aleksandar Katai was released by the Galaxy early last month after his wife made a series of racist posts on social media.

The 30-year-old Dos Santos typically plays a valuable holding role in the center of the Galaxy’s midfield. He has five goals and 12 assists in 65 appearances for the Galaxy since July 2017 after a solid three-year stint at Villareal in Spain’s La Liga.

Dos Santos played only 30 minutes of the Galaxy’s first two games this year before the coronavirus pandemic suspended the MLS season.

The Galaxy begins the MLS is Back tournament against the Portland Timbers on July 13 in Orlando, followed by a showdown with rival Los Angeles FC on July 18.