Ex-New England midfielder Larentowicz on the mend with Colorado Rapids

Former New England Revolution midfielder Jeff Larentowicz is on the mend with new club Colorado Rapids in England.

The 26-year old joined the Rapids in the off-season but soon discovered he needed knee surgery so went under the knife to fix the problem.

Now he is in London with the Rapids and things are progressing well, as he told soccer365.

“It wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been,” Larentowicz said. “I had two cartilage defects-one on the back of the patella and one on the top of the tibia on the lateral side of the knee. They had to smooth those out and there was some meniscus fraying that they just trimmed up.

“There’s little twinges of pain but the doctors said you’re going to feel those. It’s going to take up to a year before you’re feeling 100% again. But, I played through a lot of pain last season and they say I’m not doing any more damage so it’s just getting over that mental hurdle. It’s just peace of mind because if I do feel something it’s ok. They’ve corrected it and it’s just about recovery.”

Now the California native is focused on getting his fitness up to scratch so he is right for the start of the 2010 MLS season.

“I feel good. We’ve been working a lot on the agility side, cutting and changing directions-cutting frontwards and backwards. I’ve been running for 3 weeks now, started working with the ball a few weeks ago,” he added.

“At this point it’s just about getting my fitness there. It’s just about strengthening the quad again because my quad shut down last season even when I was playing just from the injury. Once they cut you everything kind of shuts down as well. It’s just doing the leg-strengthening, the quad-strengthening types of things.”