Harrogate Town's ex-Grimsby Town attacker Max Wright has 'minor operation' but should be back fit in a 'matter of weeks'

Max Wright opens the scoring early on in Harrogate Town's 2-2 pre-season friendly draw with Barnsley. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

Having impressed as a trialist in pre-season, the 24-year-old forward picked up an injury just half-an-hour into his first appearance after signing a permanent contract with the League Two Sulphurites.

The severity of the damage to his ankle, sustained on July 20, was expected to keep him sidelined for four months, but Wright has been unable to shake off an infection in the site of the injury.

As a result, the former Grimsby Town winger has been operated on again, though Harrogate chief Simon Weaver expects him to return to training within a “matter of weeks”.

Max Wright signed for Harrogate Town in mid-July having impressed while on trial at Wetherby Road earlier in the summer.

"Max has had this infection that just hasn’t gone away despite him taking antibiotics over a number of weeks,” Town’s manager told the Harrogate Advertiser on Wednesday.

"As a result, he’s had a minor operation in the last 24 hours, which hopefully clears it up.

"Obviously, getting injured so soon after signing for the club was a huge blow both for Max and for us, but this infection has been another source of real frustration for him. He’s been so unlucky.

"As I’ve said, Max was a real breath of fresh air when he came into the club in the summer and we are still really excited about what he will bring to the team when he’s back out on the pitch.

"This is a minor setback, however we’re only talking a matter of weeks now before we expect to have him back in training.”

Wright was the 10th of 16 new faces to arrive at Town over the summer, and went on to open the scoring early on in a pre-season friendly against Barnsley, just a couple of hours after he was unveiled as a permanent signing.

That accomplished one-on-one finish against League One opposition provided a glimpse of the undoubted quality that the former Mariner has to offer, but was, rather worryingly, followed by his withdrawal some 11 minutes before half-time as a result of a collision with one of his team-mates.

It was not initially thought that any serious damage had been done to Wright’s ankle, but a scan subsequently revealed that he required surgery and would be unable to play again until November.

The versatile attacker has been plagued by injuries in recent years, meaning that he managed just 13 appearances for Grimsby in the National League last term and played only eight times in 2020/21 due to a combination of thigh, hamstring and ankle issues.