Defender Omar Richards was left out of Nottingham Forest’s 25-man Premier League squad after suffering another setback.
The former Bayern Munich man is yet to make his debut for the Reds, having been sidelined since the summer with a hairline fracture of the leg. It had been hoped he would soon be involved in full training, but he will now spend the next few months focusing on his recovery.
And with Richards still unavailable, he was not included in Forest’s squad list submitted to the Premier League following the closure of the January transfer window. Giulian Biancone, who is out for the season with an ACL injury, Steve Cook and Lewis O’Brien also failed to make the cut, while Lyle Taylor, Cafu and Harry Arter remain off the list.
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“Unfortunately, Omar has had a setback with his recovery. He was just about ready to train again,” said head coach Steve Cooper.
“He’s had a tough period. For me, how you deal with the difficult moments and how you recover from them is how you end up being who you are. We’re continuing that message with Omar, saying, maybe all of this is happening for a bit of a reason, to be where you’re going to end up for us.
“We don’t think anything less of him. In fact, we think more of him.
“We feel a bit sorry for him sometimes, because he’s had setbacks - but he doesn’t want that. It hasn’t really changed our plans for him, in terms of what we thought he might give us; we’re just having to wait a bit longer for him. But he’ll get there, I’m sure.”
The Reds have been hit hard by injuries this term. In addition to Richards and Biancone, Dean Henderson (thigh), Taiwo Awoniyi (groin), Morgan Gibbs-White (ankle), Cheikhou Kouyate (hamstring) and Moussa Niakhate (hamstring) are out of action, while Ryan Yates is recovering from illness and Jesse Lingard (Achilles) is a doubt to face Leeds United at the weekend.
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