Patrick Agyemang left Derby County’s match on a stretcher after an apparent non-contact injury. The US international striker rose to settle a ball in the 37th minute and collapsed to the ground, with photographs from Pride Park showing the Derby medical staff tending to his left ankle.
On-site accounts reported that the 25-year-old leapt to control the ball with his chest before landing awkwardly and falling to ground. Play was stopped for five minutes before Agyemang was stretchered off. His replacement, Jaydon Banel, scored the opening goal to boost the Rams’ chances of promotion.
“No [update] yet. He’s gone off for a scan, so we’ll wait and see the results of that,” Derby manager John Eustace said afterward. “It’s not [nice to see]. We don’t want to lose any players. We don’t want to see any players coming off on a stretcher. Hopefully, it’s not as bad as what it might be. Until we get the scan results, we’ll have to wait and see.”
However severe the injury, it couldn’t come at a more precarious time for Agyemang, who debuted for the United States in one of Mauricio Pochettino’s first windows as manager. The striker had fared well in his first Championship season after leaving Charlotte FC in July, bagging 10 goals and adding three assists in 36 league appearances.
He’d also maintained regular status on Pochettino’s squads. While striker is among the deepest areas of the US men’s player pool, Agyemang joined Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi on the roster for the recently concluded March window. He was the only striker of the trio to score, finishing the scoring in the US’s 5-2 rout against Belgium after a Pepi interception.
