Wigan Athletic boss reveals 'hammer blow' injury

The manager was speaking in the aftermath of the midweek Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Sunderland, which he says Aasgaard would have featured in had injury not intervened.

"He picked up the injury in the Charlton (Under-23s) game last Monday," said Richardson.

"It's a grade two to his ACL, or MCL, which will rule him out for another four weeks we think.

"Obviously that's a hammer blow for us and for him, because he was coming on nicely.

"He would certainly have featured against Sunderland, no problem about that.

"But maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing, because he was thrust into it last year and made a few appearances.

"Sometimes you've got to be mindful of these lads, and it's sometimes beneficial to pull them out of games and get them working in other areas, like gymwork and nutrition."

That estimated timescale would rule Aasgaard out of the league games against Cheltenham, Sheffield Wednesday, Gillingham, Lincoln, Bolton and MK Dons, as well as the Papa John's Trophy clash at Crewe.

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