Keaton Parks admits the thought that he may never again get to take the pitch crossed his mind as he recovered from surgery to address a blood flow issue in his right leg.
For the New York City FC midfielder, it was the third time he’d had a procedure done to address the issue, and doctors have told Parks that “there’s nobody in sport that’s had three of the same surgery.”
But after missing all but 14 matches last season, Parks has returned to the pitch for NYCFC, coming off the bench in the season opener against the LA Galaxy and starting on the road in Philadelphia.
Parks played all 90 minutes in NYCFC’s 2-1 win over the Union, which was delivered thanks to a game-winning goal in stoppage time by Tayvon Gray.
As for Parks, his focus has been on simply controlling what he can control and letting the chips fall where they may with everything else.
“I absolutely had thoughts like that, which I think was the toughest part of all this, was whether I would be able to come back from this third surgery,” Parks said before crediting the club’s performance staff and his doctors for helping him through the recovery. “I still have doubts some days that I’ll be able to do this for as long as I want to, and we’ll just see where it goes, but it’s for now out of my control. I’m doing everything I can to stay healthy and to continue to be healthy. And if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.”
Parks, 28, had undergone his first surgery in early November of 2021 to have a blood clot removed from his popliteal artery in his lower right leg and then had the same surgery done less than a year later during the summer of 2022.
The midfielder had trudged through the preseason and the first 14 games of the 2025 season dealing with a foot injury that turned out to be a blood flow issue — still getting off to a standout start with a goal and two assists.
While Parks feels confident, the longevity of his career could be impacted.
Due to the unique nature of his situation, the possibility of his playing career being shortened was a possibility, but “there’s no guarantee of anything at this point.”
“It’s all theoretical. It’s all guesswork by very educated people, of course, but as of right now, we’re just doing everything we can,” he said. “They’re helping me do everything I can to stay healthy and manage what I have. Then we’ll see, and then if something goes wrong, it goes wrong. But for now, I think we have good control over it.”
Parks’ return and contributions take on a new level of importance this season as the club tries to weather the early part of the season without injured star Alonso Martínez.
Parks’ ability to move the ball and help facilitate scoring chances will be an important factor while the club looks to a handful of players to fill the scoring vacuum.
Parks created a pair of chances in Sunday’s win — NYCFC’s first of the season — and had five defensive contributions.
“Very happy that he’s healthy again, helping out the team,” NYCFC head coach Pascal Jansen said. “Today was his first start. You could see his legs are not there yet, but he needs game time in order to get close to his best level. I thought that today was a good day in order to have somebody with a little more height and also a little more creative mind, closer to the attackers, which suits the profile of Keats perfectly. So I’m very happy he got a full game in the tank today.”
“It’s been a very joyful and a very happy moment to see him present again. He’s working hard to get back to the level physically and competitively to be the player we all know he can be.”
Hannes Wolf scored New York City FC’s first goal of the game in the 36th minute Sunday night before Philly nearly spoiled the night with a goal in the 89th minute by Indiana Vassilev.
Gray’s heroics came in the ninth minute of stoppage time off a header inside the box.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
