FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – A key piece of the New England Revolution midfield should soon be back in the mix as Gershon Koffie is nearing a return from a right knee sprain.

Koffie has missed the last eight games in all competitions since injuring his knee on May 21 against FC Dallas, but he’s recently returned to full training and has been upgraded to questionable on the Revolution’s official injury report, indicating that a return is imminent.

Koffie – in his first season with the Revs – started every game for which he was available before the injury, and the 24-year-old midfielder is a constant presence on both sides of the ball when healthy.

“We miss him,” said Revs head coach Jay Heaps. “I think up to the point where he got hurt, he was one of our MVPs of the year. He’s excellent on the ball. He reads the game well. He’s in passing lanes. He was helping our defensive plays to create offense.”

Kelyn Rowe, Daigo Kobayashi and most recently Je-Vaughn Watson have deputized for Koffie alongside Scott Caldwell in New England’s midfield, and they’ve done an admirable job as the Revs are 3-3-0 in league play and have a pair of Open Cup wins in Koffie’s absence.

It’s possible that one of those three will continue in that role for the time being as Koffie eases his way back from a long lay-off, but with three games in an eight-day stretch on the horizon, Heaps already sees opportunities for Koffie to begin regaining his fitness.

“Really excited to get him back in the mix,” Heaps said. “We don’t want to push him too much, because he’s coming back from a pretty good knee sprain. But at the same time, we’ve got a lot of games coming up and it would be great to see him get some minutes in as we progress.”