Omar Richards, a defender for Nottingham Forest on loan, is still waiting to make his Olympiacos debut due to a new injury issue.
After a challenging season with the Reds, it was thought that the left-back would benefit from a change of scenery. However, it doesn’t appear that his situation has changed all that much in Greece.
Richards joined Forest little more than a year ago from Bayern Munich but was sidelined for the whole of last term with a hairline fracture of the leg, while he also had to deal with muscle injuries and a hernia. Although he was able to join in training to some degree in the summer, he did not get a run-out in pre-season and ended up being loaned out to fellow Evangelos Marinakis-owned side Olympiacos.
The left-back is said to have sustained “a minor pull” which meant he was not in contention for Thursday night’s Europa League victory over West Ham United. This issue isn’t thought to be serious and he is expected to return to training next week
It is suggested the problem is a result of Richards pushing himself as he aims to have “his body absolutely ready” for when he is able to play. That is something the player also had to contend with as he tried to get himself fit for Forest.
Reds head coach Steve Cooper previously said: “With him being out for so long, getting back up to the demands of a Premier League training environment, he has just got to get his body robust enough. Unfortunately, once he gets to a certain level, he keeps getting little knocks and niggles that keep him out for another week or two weeks. He’s continuing to go through that.
“He’s had so much bad luck. We’re trying to recover and rehab the small injuries while trying to build his body to be strong enough that when he does come back in he can actually handle it.
He has been training this preseason; he performed admirably until Spain, when he suffered a little setback and had to withdraw once more. We’re working to address that while also strengthening his body so that, as a skilled athlete, he can manage it when he returns.
