It was the sound that first alarmed Andrew Jean-Baptiste – not a ‘pop’, but a noise that simply should not be coming from a man’s knee.

“There was an instant, sharp pain and I heard a crunching sound — it sounded like the crackling of knuckles – and I went down right away,” began Valour FC’s dominant centre back. “All I could think was, ‘this can’t be it. Is this really what this is?’

“Then I remember holding my knee and being so disappointed, knowing this most likely was going to end my season.”

That much has now been officially confirmed – the 29-year-old defender is done for the rest of 2021 after tearing the ACL in his left knee in Valour’s 3-0 win over York United FC last Sunday.

Surgery is scheduled to happen soon.

“I’ve had better days. It’s sucks,” he said. “It’s one side of the dream that nobody likes to deal with but, unfortunately I have to deal with it now.

“The good news, I guess, is I’ll be able to have the surgery fairly soon and get started on the long road to recovery.”

The news is devastating for both Jean-Baptiste and Valour. The passionate co-captain – he shares the arm band with Daryl Fordyce – was having a spectacular season, so much so that he was certainly in the conversation as the best player in the Canadian Premier League through the first month of the 2021 campaign.

Valour not only leads the CPL with six wins against one loss through seven matches, it has also allowed only two goals while posting five clean sheets. The club’s +10 goal differential also leads the league by a wide margin.

And Jean-Baptiste’s fingerprints are all over all of that as not only has he been stout defensively, but he also chipped in with two of Valour’s 12 goals.

“This is probably the best start I’ve ever had, with the five clean sheets and two goals,” he said. “We’ve also beaten some good teams back to back. So, yeah, things were going well both for the team and individually for me. Again, that sucks, because we’re getting wins and the team looks so promising.

“I said before the season that this team was going to be exciting to watch. With the goal of this team winning a championship, it hurts to know I’ll be a part of it, but I won’t be a part of it.

“I’m still going to be here,” Jean-Baptiste added. “I’m still going to be a voice in the locker room and, obviously, not on the field but every way around it I can be. I want to help make sure the team still has in sight the mission at hand. I’m not leaving my team because of this.

“We won’t deviate from our path. I really do like these guys and I will be here with them.”

Jean-Baptiste knows the road ahead will be arduous. A knee injury like this takes months and months of rehab and can be a grind physically and be and an emotional test of a man’s will.

But he vows to return.

“Like any other injury, you just have to do what you need to do to get back on the field,” he said. “That’s the physical side of it, but there’s the mental side of it and I know that’s going to take its toll. I’m going to do my best on both sides of the recovery and get whatever help needed to get back 100 percent mentally and physically.

“This is going to be a long process, but with my discipline I’m going to come back, especially with this team, stronger than I was previously and make up for lost time.”