Crewe Alexandra have confirmed that goalkeeper Dave Richards requires surgery on a shoulder injury sustained in an Under-23 game at Millwall earlier in the month and will miss the rest of the season.
Richards, 25, started the season in the Alex goal and played in the first 4 league games as well as the EFL Cup penalty defeat at home to Fleetwood Town having made 14 more appearances (all last season) since joining from Bristol City in July 2015.
As a result, Will Jaaskelainen’s loan spell at Nantwich Town has ended after 26 appearances in 2 separate spells during this season and had kept 9 clean sheets for the Dabbers.
What does this mean for the goalkeeping position until the end of the season?
Honestly not a lot for me, Garratt will still be first-choice while Jaaskelainen will take Richards’ place on the bench for the first-team and playing in the remaining 3 Under-23 games before hopefully making his first-team debut at the end of the season assuming that there is nothing riding on the game.
It’s a blow to Richards as he is out of contract in the summer and won’t have an opportunity to put himself in the shop window, even in Under-23 games, before his deal runs out.
