The signing of Robbie Williams from Barnsley is now in severe doubt after the first part of his medical revealed a hairline fracture to his shin.

htafc.com was the first to announce the capture of the 22-year old from Andy Ritchie's former club Barnsley on Friday, but the move is now in peril after this discovery.

A disappointed Ritchie explained the scenario to htafc.com today.

"We were aware that Robbie had picked up a slight knock in training with Barnsley on Thursday, but their physio had taken him to Barnsley hospital and they were convinced that it was nothing more than a trapped nerve."

Williams had kicked the bottom of a teammate's boot after clearing the ball during a practice match.

"He came to the Galpharm Stadium today for the first part of his medical on one crutch, as he will still suffering from some pain when trying to bear weight. Lee Martin (Town's Physio) had a look at him and decided that an x-ray was required to clear up the problem and fortunately we managed to get in at Huddersfield today.

"Unfortunately for everybody, the x-ray showed that Robbie has a hairline fracture in his shin."

This kind of injury generally keeps a player out for 2 months, although there is an obvious variation in recovery times from player to player.

"The deal is obviously in severe doubt now, but I will have a meeting with Andrew Watson, Gerry Murphy, John Dungworth and Martyn Booty on Monday to discuss where we go from here.

"I'm really disappointed, as is Robbie. It's one of those things, but it has made me reassess our own procedures in training; Robbie wasn't wearing shin-pads when training with Barnsley on Thursday and I may now enforce this as a rule during our training sessions."