Wigan Athletic boss makes '50-50' admission over Liverpool loan star
Shaun Maloney has confirmed Luke Chambers' future at Wigan Athletic remains a coin toss at this stage.
The 20-year-old - who rejoined Latics on a season-long loan from Liverpool last summer - has been sidelined since the middle of October with a recurrence of a long-standing back issue.
After initial fears Chambers' season could be over, Maloney revealed just before Christmas that the player's recovery had been better than expected, and he was due back at Wigan at the end of January to continue his rehab.
While that still remains the hope, Maloney admits the situation is not totally in his control.
"I think there's still a little bit of doubt regarding Luke," he said. "He's back doing rehab on the grass at Liverpool, but he has another scan coming up.
"It's still 50-50 on whether he comes back, but obviously we're all desperate to have him stay with us."
Latics have already seen loan duo Calvin Ramsay (Liverpool) and Joe Hugill (Manchester United) return to their parent clubs this month midway through season-long arrangements.
Maloney expects Michael Olakigbe (Brentford), Silko Thomas (Leicester City) and Dale Taylor (Nottingham Forest) to stay put - but admitted there are 'plans in place' should any of them be recalled.
"We'll be planning for them to stay," he added. "But it works both ways, and their clubs have a recall option around the middle of the month, where they can look at that.
"So we want all of those players to stay, but we have plans in place should that not be the case."