Gaston Sauro, left, will not be able to play for Columbus next season. Trevor Ruszkowksi-USA TODAY SportsColumbus Crew SC defender Gaston Sauro will miss all of the 2017 season following knee surgeries.
Sauro, 26, was the team's highest-paid non-designated player last season with a base salary of $585,000, but he appeared in only 13 games because of a left knee injury.
Crew SC coach Gregg Berhalter told the Columbus Dispatch on Monday that Sauro would not play next season.
"It's going to be a number of surgeries he's going to get and he's going to be out for the year," Berhalter said. "That's our reality. It's a tough reality, but that's the way it is."
Berhalter also said Crew SC would work to restructure Sauro's contract while looking to sign a starting center-back this winter.