Frank Lampard handed major headache as Coventry City star suffers set-back
The latest Coventry City news from CoventryLive as Haji Wright’s fitness concerns see him return to the Sky Blues
Haji Wright has been ruled out of the rest of the Concacaf Gold Cup and sent back to Coventry City after picking up an injury on international duty.
The United States have confirmed the striker has suffered “an Achilles issue that will not be resolved in time for him to continue competing in the tournament”.
The 27-year-old has been sent back to the Sky Blues for “evaluation and treatment” on what is claimed to be his left Achilles.
Frank Lampard’s players are due to return for pre-season training on July 1, in just eight days, although Wright would likely have been on a different schedule given his commitments with the USA.
The Sky Blues play their first pre-season friendly on July 23 and the Championship season resumes on the weekend of August 8-10, and while the severity of Wright’s problem is not yet known, it is an early headache for City boss Lampard.
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Wright scored in the Gold Cup victory over Trinidad & Tobago, as the USMNT won 5-0, with the Coventry man coming off the bench.
He missed Thursday’s 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in Austin, Texas, Sunday’s 2-1 victory against Haiti and is now confirmed as out of the quarter-final against Costa Rica on June 30.
Wright, who joined City for a club record fee from Antalyaspor in the summer of 2023, has scored 31 goals in 79 games, including 12 in 31 last term. However, he missed more than three months and 19 games of last season due to an ankle ligament injury.
When he returned though, he was arguably Lampard’s most potent attacking weapon with Ellis Simms underwhelming during the run-in and Brandon Thomas-Asante used mainly as a substitute.
