Loan star to return to Premier League club with Wigan Athletic future in doubt

The versatile defender pulled out of Saturday's 0-0 draw against Lincoln on the eve of the game after playing through the pain barrier in recent games.

It remains to be seen how long the Tunisia international will be sidelined for.

But given his loan spell with Latics has only another month to run, he may even have played his last game for the club.

"It's a strange one," acknowledged boss Shaun Maloney. "He's played through some pain in his knee in the last two games, which eventually came to a head on Friday evening, and he just couldn't play.

"We think he's going to go back to Arsenal, just to see how things are, which is normal.

"The same thing happened with James Balagizi and Liverpool, and most of the loan boys do.

"Unfortunately I don't think we'll see him again before the New Year which is a shame...it's not great news."

Maloney remains hopeful of extending the stay of Rekik, who also spent the second half of last term on loan at the DW Stadium, but concedes the situation is out of his control.

"He's scheduled to be here until January 21," added the Scot. "And we spoke to Arsenal last week about extending that.

"I'm still really hopeful we can do that, but that's kind of out of my hands at the moment."

Rekik's late withdrawal meant a surprise return to the fold for utility man Steven Sessegnon, who had been out for a month since damaging a hamstring at Cheltenham.

"I had to push Sess back in, because of Omar's injury," said Maloney, who had said in the lead-up to the game that Sessegnon would not be considered for selection.

"He and Liam (Morrison) weren't supposed to be back so soon, basically because I didn't want to risk anyone else.

"But with the news about Omar coming so late, the plans had to change very quickly.

"I really like what Sess did, and fingers crossed that continues."