Richard Keogh has been assured he will make a full recovery from the serious knee injury he suffered in Tuesday night’s car accident that led to two of his Derby teammates being charged with drink-driving.
The club captain was a passenger in one of the cars, driven by Tom Lawrence, which smashed into a lamp-post. The driver of the other car was Mason Bennett. It has been reported the cars collided. Lawrence and Bennett are scheduled to appear at Southern Derbyshire magistrates court on 15 October. Neither was badly hurt.
Keogh has been castigated for his decision to get into Lawrence’s car after a night of drinking. The 33-year-old, who was knocked unconscious in the crash, saw a knee specialist in London on Friday, amid fears his career could be over. The Derby manager, Phillip Cocu, did not dismiss the notion on Thursday. But Keogh has been told that although it will be a long road back and he can expect to be absent for 12 months, he will return.
Derby released a strongly worded statement on Thursday that mentioned only Keogh by name. The club said the small group of players who had continued drinking into the night “should have known when to stop and also ignored the opportunity to be driven home using cars laid on by the club”.
Cocu described Keogh as “extremely down”. He added: “I think he feels responsible, yeah. The more senior players always have to step up and take responsibility and it’s now had a huge effect on him.”
Keogh, who will miss the Euro 2020 finals with Republic of Ireland should they qualify, joined Derby in 2012 from Coventry and has made more than 350 appearances for the club.
