FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution were prepared to wait until July to welcome newly-inked Xavier Kouassi into the mix. Unfortunately, they’ll have to wait a bit longer.

Kouassi, who was announced as a Designated Player signing for the Revolution just last week, suffered a right knee injury while playing with current club FC Sion on Sunday evening. The 26-year-old midfielder will undergo surgery next Tuesday in Switzerland and is expected to miss significant time.

“First and foremost, we’re upset for the player,” Revolution head coach Jay Heaps said on Wednesday morning. “What we know is that our doctors have spoken with their doctors, there’s going to be a procedure on Tuesday, and then from a timeline standpoint, we’ll know more after the surgery.

“(We had hoped to) have that addition come in and be impactful in the summer. Unfortunately, it’s going to be delayed. We don’t know the exact timeline, but it’s certainly not going to be July 1.”

Heaps indicated last week upon signing Kouassi that the Revs had made an offer to purchase the player outright from Sion to bring him in immediately, but Sion was reluctant to part with their captain in the midst of a Europa League run which has seen the Swiss club advance to the knockout stage.

Kouassi, too, was keen on playing in the latter stages of the competition, so as much as Heaps is disappointed in the Revolution’s misfortune, he’s even more upset for Kouassi himself.

“I’ve spoken with him and I know how important the Europa League was for him,” Heaps said. “He helped that team advance into the knockout stages. It’s a really small club that doesn’t have the spending power of the huge clubs in the world, and I think they were really relying on him to carry them through that knockout stage. So you’re upset for them.

“The second phase is we’re upset, because we wanted to have that player impact us sooner rather than later, and obviously right now we have to abide by [how] the procedure [unfolds].”

As for the current preseason camp, Heaps said “it’s business as usual,” as Kouassi wasn’t expected to arrive until midseason regardless. But with Kouassi’s absence now extended beyond that summer arrival, New England will likely be inclined to add further reinforcements in central midfield.

“It hurts because he’s a player that we expected to help (midseason),” Heaps said. “But at the same time, he’ll rebound from this and hopefully be even stronger than before.

“He’s still 26, he’s going to recover well and impact us at some point.”