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As expected, the oft-injured Chris Schuler is once again sidelined for an extended period of time.

Real Salt Lake announced Thursday that the 28-year-old center back in his sixth season at RSL underwent successful surgery to repair a navicular fracture in his left foot on Monday, Aug. 31. The 6-foot-4 defender is expected to be out at least 4-to-6 months.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Timothy Beals at the University of Utah Orthopedic Center.

"He's in good spirits," RSL general manager Craig Waibel said in a release. "He's in a good spot to recover and surgery went extremely well. We look forward to having him back in the mix next season."

The season-ending procedure comes nearly two months after Schuler returned to the starting lineup after missing the previous three months due to a torn meniscus in his left knee. Schuler started back-to-back matches at Colorado on July 11 and home against the L.A. Galaxy in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals on July 14.

Within days of RSL's 1-0 win over L.A., Schuler's left foot began bothering him. Initial MRI readings showed a bone bruise in the navicular bone, located on the inner side of the foot just above the arch. Two more follow-up MRI readings eventually showed a fracture, which is common for bone bruises to develop into stress fractures, RSL's head athletic trainer Tyson Pace said last month.

"We don't see [these fractures] that often, which is good," Pace said. "But they're definitely difficult injuries to deal with."

When healthy, Schuler's presence on the RSL back line makes an obvious difference. His combination of height, positioning and athleticism played a large role in RSL sustaining its consistency on the back line. But the former 39th overall pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft has been snake-bitten by injury during his six years in Major League Soccer.

» 2010: Broke a bone in his right foot in a training session on Sept. 29, 2010, in Toronto. He played in one league match his rookie season.

» 2011: Stayed healthy, playing in 20 league matches, including 16 starts at center back.

» 2012: Suffered a stress fracture in his left foot on May 12, 2012. Missed three-and-a-half months. Played in 13 league matches, while starting just nine.

» 2013: Missed four months in the middle of the season due a stress fracture in his right foot. Started 16 matches, scored the series-clincher in 2-0 win over L.A. in 2013 Western Conference semifinals.

» 2014: Started a career high 25 league matches, had three goals and one assist in over 2,150 minutes played. Suffered several facial fractures in collision with former teammate Nat Borchers on Oct. 5, 2014.

» 2015: Started first four games of the season before suffering meniscus tear in warm-ups prior to April 18 match against Vancouver. Missed three months before returning on July 11.

In his six seasons at RSL, he has 80 total appearances, 72 of which are starts. Another lengthy road awaits Schuler, who is once again tasked with bouncing back from another serious foot injury.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani