Manchester United talent Joe Hugill has been sent back to Old Trafford due to a ‘budget decision’.
Hugill spent the first half of the season with Wigan Athletic on a year-long loan deal, howeve,r the move has been cut short by the League One side.
The 21-year-old has scored five goals in 18 games for Wigan so far this term, but hasn’t started a game since the end of September.
Shaun Maloney‘s side already has Dale Taylor on a season-long loan from Nottingham Forest and has now signed Will Goodwin on loan from Oxford United for the second half of the campaign.
In a team who typically play with one lone striker, Maloney explained how Hugill was no longer needed at the Brick Community Stadium.
“It’s a budget-related decision really,” said Maloney. “I think he’s done really well here, I’ve really enjoyed working with Joe, and I think there’s even more development in Joe.
“In fairness to him, over the last ten games or so, Dale Taylor has been in really, really good form, and I know Joe needs to play games.
“He was always going to leave us if Dale kept his place, which he did… although I still would have liked to have kept him.
“I know we’ve signed Will Goodwin, but Joe is a very different profile to him… and we can only carry two ‘9s’ at the moment.
“So that’s the decision… it’s nothing to do with performance, or how we trained… we can only carry two ‘9s’ and that’s the decision.”
Asked if it meant that Wigan wouldn’t sign a replacement striker, Maloney replied: “Yeah definitely.
“We’ve got Dale and Will, that’s what we could do this season. We’re happy with the two ‘9s’ we have.”
Having joined Man United from Sunderland in 2020, Hugill has featured regularly for the Red Devils’ under-21s side.
Since then he has also spent time on loan with Altrincham and Burton Albion, before joining Wigan this term.
Now 21 years of age, Hugill will be hoping to secure more regular first team football for the second half of the season.