Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley is slated to undergo ankle surgery on Tuesday and will miss approximately four months, general manager Ali Curtis told reporters on Monday.

The "very severe" injury occurred during the team's MLS Cup loss to the Seattle Sounders on Nov. 10, according to Curtis. It occurred in the 33rd minute but Bradley was able to play the remainder of the match.

"Michael is going to have surgery (Tuesday) in New York City," Curtis said. "He suffered a very severe and complicated ankle injury against Seattle in MLS Cup. We didn't disclose that publicly. Because the details of his injury or injuries of players, you don't necessarily disclose publicly (that) you're really just working with the medical team and working with the player to try to get them to return to play.

"And in Michael's case, he had an X-ray after the game in Seattle, and then we got back to Toronto and he got a couple scans."

The club initially was hoping Bradley wouldn't require surgery.

"He stayed in Toronto for a tremendous part of the offseason and we really tried to work with him on his rehab as much as possible to try to get him to a point where he's returning to play full strength," Curtis said. "Ankles are finicky. Sometimes they tend to take long to recover. You've got to be careful with those types of injuries and surgery is the last resort, typically, in terms of what you want to do."

However, Toronto forward Jozy Altidore said the team mishandled Bradley's injury.

"Make no mistake, in my opinion, for me, it was handled poorly," Altidore told reporters after Monday's training session. "This was an injury from two months ago and it's not the first time this has happened (with the club). ...

"Two months have gone by and now he's having surgery and he'll be out until June. I don't think it's good enough. He's a guy that takes care of himself in an incredible way. Incredible professional, he pushes himself, the group, he holds everybody to a high standard and I think he was let down."

Bradley, a 32-year-old midfielder, had three goals and three assists in 27 matches (26 starts) last season. He is entering his seventh season with the franchise and has 11 goals and 25 assists in 163 matches with the squad.

Bradley also has scored 17 goals in 151 appearances for the United States Men's National Team.