Wrexham dealt fresh Libby Cacace injury blow as return delayed again

Brought in from Italian club Empoli last summer, the New Zealand international endured a stop-start first campaign at The Racecourse due to hamstring and calf problems.

Cacace was restricted to 12 Championship appearances, spending a large amount of time on the sidelines as the Reds challenged for a play-off spot.

Although the 26-year-old started all three game for his country at this summer's World Cup finals, he hasn't featured so far this season due to calf issues.

Parkinson hoped Cacace was closing in on a return to action but his comeback has been put on hold once again despite the club trying to get to the root of the problem.

"Libby, unfortunately, keeps having recurrence of calf injuries and it's very difficult for us all and him to explain why that's happening," he said. "We can't quite work that out so he's not close.

"We've got him close a couple of times and he's re-injured, either a fresh injury in terms of his other calf or the same one.

"We've taken him down to London this week to see another specialist to try and find a solution to the problems he's had, which is baffling because we brought a player in who's had a great record.

"He's very robust, he's played in the World Cup, but with us he's just picked up these muscle injuries which we can't quite work out why.

"It's not for the want of trying, our medical department have have done everything and so has Libby himself.

"We'll get there with him, but unfortunately he's not going to be ready for quite a while yet.

"I always reiterate that Libby's a great guy. He's very committed and he's a great professional, but he's just had a period of mystery circumstances surrounding his injuries.

"It''s not as if they're not there because obviously we have the scan reports which show the injuries are there, but it's the circumstances which they have happened has left us scratching our heads a little bit.

"We will get to the bottom of it and we will find a solution with Libby but I've got to be honest and say he won't be with us for some time."

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Wrexham return to action away to Derby County on Saturday.

The extended international break, lasting three weeks, has given some of the other injured players time to recover, with Danny Imray and Ollie Rathbone expected to be available for the clash at Pride Park, while George Thomason, Max Cleworth and Nathan Broadhead are making good progress.

"They've all made improvements which you'd expect with the break we've had," added Parkinson.

"The majority of them are out on the training pitch at some level.

"The closest ones are Ollie and Danny but I'm not going to rule anybody in or out because I don't want to give too many clues away to Derby.

"But the majority of that group are on the grass. Where they are and how quickly they come back, we'll know in the next couple of days."