Sturm Graz will have to do without a top performer until winter

Sturm Graz needs a goalkeeper until the winter break Kjell Scherpen waive. The Dutchman is undergoing planned surgery on his knee, as the football champions announced on Tuesday. Scherpen will therefore be fully available again in January. In the four games until the winter break, 20-year-old Russian Daniil Chudjakov will guard the goal.

The operation on Scherpen was always planned after his cruciate ligament rupture last year, said Sturm’s sports director Michael Parensen in a club statement. In consultation with Scherpen’s parent club Brighton, the date originally scheduled for the beginning of December has now been brought forward. This will ensure that the Graz regular goalkeeper is fully operational again at the beginning of the year.

Chudyakov’s first test is in the Champions League. Sturm will be in action against Girona in Klagenfurt on Wednesday.