Why second Premier League loan star has returned to parent club from Wigan Athletic

The 21-year-old striker scored five times during his 18 appearances for Latics after joining on a season-long loan from the Old Trafford outfit.

But following the arrival of another forward, Will Goodwin from Oxford United, on loan for the rest of the campaign, Hugill has returned to his parent club.

Goodwin will now challenge Dale Taylor - also on a season-long loan, from Nottingham Forest - for the lone striking role.

"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 10 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."

When asked to clarify if that meant there would be no more striking arrivals this month, 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.”

Latics confirmed the decision in a 3pm press statement on Wednesday.

"We can confirm striker Joe Hugill has returned to Manchester United from his loan spell at Wigan Athletic," read the statement.

"The 21-year-old leaves the Brick Community Stadium having made 18 appearances across all competitions. The highlight of his loan spell came back in September when he netted a brace in the 4-0 victory at Bristol Rovers. The club would like to thank Joe for his contributions during his time with Latics and wish him well for the future."

A United statement read: “Joe Hugill has returned to Manchester United after a six-month loan stint at Wigan Athletic. The striker scored five goals for the League One side, and now has a total of 43 senior appearances to his name, with his experience at the Brick Community Stadium building on previous spells at Altrincham and Burton Albion.

"The talented 21-year-old featured for United in our pre-season victory over Rangers in Edinburgh, netting our second goal in a 2-0 win, before joining the Latics and wearing their No.9 shirt under Shaun Maloney. Hugill found the net for Wigan as recently as December 29, when he scored in a 2-1 defeat to promotion-chasing Wrexham.”

Hugill becomes the second striker to leave Latics this month following the permanent sale of youngster Josh Stones to National League leaders York City.

Also heading out of the door has been defender Calvin Ramsay, who has returned to parent club Liverpool.

Latics have signed three players so far – Goodwin, defender Josh Robinson from Arsenal and winger Joseph Hungbo from FC Nurnberg.