Explained: When Tendayi Darikwa could return for Nottingham Forest
Soccer Football - Championship - Nottingham Forest vs Derby County - The City Ground, Nottingham, Britain - March 11, 2018 Nottingham Forest's Tendayi Darikwa fouls Derby County's Kasey Palmer and is later shown a yellow card Action Images/Andrew Boyers EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Tendayi Darikwa ruptured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament during a training session for Nottingham Forest in early-August and was initially ruled out for the rest of 2019.
The 27-year-old represented Zimbabwe at the African Cup of Nations this summer and was handed a late holiday after his side were eliminated on June 30. He returned early to prepare for the 2019/20 campaign but suffered a training ground injury which forced Forest to shop for a replacement.
Sabri Lamouchi told Nottinghamshire Live that Darikwa’s recovery time will be six months after undergoing an operation, meaning he’s unlikely to be seen before February. The Reds boss said: “Darikwa is having an operation, so we will be missing him for about six months.”
The right-back will be short of match fitness when he returns to full training too, so Darikwa may have to play for the u23 before getting minutes in the first-team. Lamouchi has Carl Jenkinson, Matty Cash and Jayden Richardson to deputise for the 27-year-old, so Forest can cope without Darikwa.
Since joining Forest from Burnley in July 2017, he’s gone on to make 63 appearances in all competitions, scoring and creating two goals. Darikwa was a regular for most of 2018/19 while Sam Byram was injured and may have been first-choice in 2019/20 but for his injury.