Derby County captain Richard Keogh has been ruled out for the season with a serious knee injury after he was involved in the car collision on Tuesday night that saw his team-mates Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett charged with drink-driving.

Keogh has suffered a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury and further damage to his knee and could be out of action for up to 12 months after it emerged he was a passenger in the back seat of Lawrence's Range Rover Sport which crashed into a lamppost just before midnight.

The details of the collision on the A6 in the Allestree area of Derby are still emerging but the club has issued a withering statement criticising the trio for their actions, promising they will pay a “heavy price” after a “rigorous” internal investigation.

The Derby squad had been on a club-sanctioned night out, agreed by head coach Phillip Cocu to build team morale, before the crash took place.

The squad were drinking in the Joiners Arms in Quarndon after an afternoon of bowling in the city centre, with Keogh, Bennett and Lawrence staying at the bar while most of the other players had left.