John Eustace has confirmed that defender Ryan Nyambe will miss the remainder of Derby County’s season and is at risk of missing the beginning of next season after his hamstring injury which he suffered in last week’s victory over Preston North End.
Nyambe missed the defeat to Swansea City on Saturday and was absent again on Tuesday night as the Rams held promotion chasing Burnley to a goalless draw at Pride Park. He is the latest in a long line of injury victims who are currently unavailable to Eustace, a number of whom have suffered setbacks since his arrival in February.
Alongside Nyambe, wing-back Callum Elder has also missed the last couple of games since the win against Preston; he suffered what Eustace described as a ‘bad knock’ during the game and hasn’t yet returned to training ahead of this Saturday’s key trip to Portsmouth as Derby aim to add to their points tally in their quest to remain in the Championship.
“Ryan is going to be out for the season, unfortunately. He’s possibly going to have surgery, but he’s going to be out for the next three or four months,” Eustace confirmed. “Callum hasn’t trained since his bad knock last week, so I’m not sure when he’ll be on the grass again.
“Sondre Langas is playing through a serious knee injury and he needs an operation at the end of the season. He came in tonight, needing a knee operation, and got through another 75-80 minutes. He was sensational tonight after a tough game Saturday. We’ll have to see if he’s available this weekend.”
Eustace is already without the likes of Curtis Nelson, David Ozoh, Kemar Roofe and Ben Osborn on what is an increasingly lengthy list of injury-related absentees, and yet you wouldn’t have necessarily guessed that Derby were as depleted as they actually are if you were in the dark on the subject when watching their game with Burnley.
There was determination and effort aplenty, all over the pitch and a work-rate to match the Clarets’, who were frustrated in their attempts to retain top spot – a place at the summit which was reclaimed by Leeds United on Tuesday. Eustace won’t be making excuses and maintained a ‘fighter’ stance.
“In the first week I was here, we lost four, who are out for most of the season,” he reflected. “All I’d say is that the group have rolled their sleeves up and, whichever position they’ve been asked to play, they’ve been fantastic. We’re fighters, not victims. I’m not going to moan – it’s what we’re all about, we’ll get on with it and see where it takes us.
“The group have been excellent since we came in. We have had to make a lot of changes throughout all the games. We had a good run of four games without any injuries, and you could see that level of consistency. The last couple of games we have had to make three or four changes for the games. Everyone is playing their part to pick up as many points as we can.
“It’s a group effort. The boys have been working their socks off on the training field. We were really disappointed on Saturday because it was a game we dominated with and without the ball and to concede the way we did, it was really soft.
“To come up against a top team in Burnley, the best team in the league, and defend the way we did was a real positive. It’s a group effort, it’s a collective. Every player rolled up their sleeves and went toe to toe with an excellent team, of which I am very proud.”
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