A former England star who has not featured in the league for Wrexham since April is now closing in on a return
Former England international Jay Rodriguez is edging closer to a return for Wrexham after being sidelined from league action since April.
The 36-year-old striker signed for the Red Dragons from Burnley on an 18-month deal in January, having previously played for Southampton and West Bromwich Albion. He scored twice in 17 games as Phil Parkinson‘s squad secured promotion from League One.
However, Rodriguez suffered a stress fracture in his ankle during pre-season and was omitted from Wrexham’s 24-man Championship squad when it was announced in September. Parkinson has now given a positive update, confirming that Rodriguez, along with midfielder Andy Cannon who had a ruptured ACL in February, has returned to training.
Despite the encouraging news for Rodriguez and Cannon, Parkinson revealed that last season’s player of the year, Ollie Rathbone, has experienced another setback after sustaining an ankle injury in pre-season.
Parkinson told The Leader: “Andy Cannon’s back training, Rodriguez is back out on the training pitch and we haven’t seen Rathbone yet. Ollie just straightened his thigh a bit prior to the reserve game (last Tuesday).
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“It’s not a major injury but we’ve just got to get him out of that cycle where he’s so determined to get back involved with the group that he’s almost overextending himself a bit and getting little niggles but we know he’ll be back.
“People talk about the January window but we’ve got players who are going to come back into the group who are going to be like new signings for us.”
According to Capology, Rodriguez is currently Wrexham’s third-highest earner, pocketing a weekly wage of £25,000. He has one England cap under his belt, earned in a match against Chile in November 2013.
Despite getting a run-out against Sydney FC in pre-season, Rodriguez last featured in the league for Wrexham in their 2-1 victory at Blackpool on April 21. The earliest he is likely see any first team action is January when teams are next able to make changes to their registered squad list.
Wrexham, currently sitting 14th in the Championship table, will face Bristol City at home in their next fixture on Wednesday night. The Red Dragons are currently enjoying a six-match unbeaten streak in the league and are just three points shy of the play-off spots.
Ahead of the match, Parkinson also discussed the fitness of wing-back Liberato Cacace and top-scorer Kieffer Moore, who were absent for Saturday’s goalless draw at Ipswich Town.
He added: “We left them back at home to do work with the physios and we’ll see. But I think for Kieffer, turning that injury into a slight positive is he’s had a breather because he’s played a lot of football.
“He’s played nearly every minute for us, he’s been away with Wales and he’ll come back refreshed and strong, ready to build on what an amazing start to the season he’s had.”
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