Cardiff Injury Update: Josh Windass Ruled Out vs. Wrexham
Cardiff City's opening Championship fixture against Wrexham will be without Josh Windass, who has been ruled out due to a calf injury. The attacking midfielder was leading scorer with 17 goals in 2025-26 and also scooped the player of the season award.
Windass was leading scorer with 17 goals in 2025-26 and he also scooped the player of the season award as Wrexham finished seventh in the second tier, just two points away from the play-offs. But the attacking midfielder did not feature in pre-season because of a calf injury which also kept him out of the 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough in the first round of the League Cup 10 days ago.
Although Windass will definitely be absent at The Cardiff Stadium for the clash with the newly promoted Bluebirds, there was better news regarding Sheaf and Cacace. Sheaf, like Windass, has had no game-time since reporting back for pre-season but the midfielder is back in training while wing-back Cacace didn't play in the cup loss against Boro because of 'fatigue in his calves'.
Brought in from Italian club Empoli last summer, the New Zealand international endured a frustrating stop-start first campaign at The Racecourse due to hamstring and calf issues but he started all three group games for the All Whites at the World Cup finals, and he also featured in the Reds' final match of the pre-season tour to America against Sunderland.
"The squad's decent, but we need Sheafy and Josh back in that which has been a frustration for those two over pre-season," said Reds' boss Phil Parkinson. "Josh no, he is still a bit behind Sheafy who is back in training, which is great. Sheafy hasn't played any minutes yet but he's had a block of training in pre-season, so he hasn't missed the whole of pre-season like Josh, but he's getting there.
Libby only missed four or five days, maybe a touch longer than that. It was more of a fatigue related injury and hopefully it's nothing more than that and he'll be back in contention."
Max Cleworth, who missed part of pre-season because of an Achilles problem, Dan Scarr, Aaron James, Ryan Longman, Ryan Barnett, Ben Whiteman, George Dobson, Davis Keillor-Dunn, Bailey Cadamarteri and Harry Ashfield, were either substitutes or omitted from the squad against Boro but they all got valuable minutes in last Monday's 1-0 win against Wigan Athletic in a behind closed doors friendly.
What comes next?
Cardiff City is currently 12 points behind leaders Lincoln in the title race and will look to bounce back from their last result, a 5-4 loss to Mansfield Town on May 2nd. The Bluebirds have scored 90 goals this season and conceded 50, with a +40 goal difference.
Why it matters for Cardiff
The injury to Josh Windass is a significant blow to Cardiff City's chances of success in the Championship. The team will need to rely on other players to step up and fill the void left by Windass's absence.
Recent form
Cardiff City's recent form has been 3 wins, 0 draws, and 2 losses in their last 5 matches, with their last 2 matches ending in losses. They will look to bounce back from this slump and get back on track against Wrexham.
