Wigan Athletic boss rules Fulham loanee Luke Harris out for 'months' after injury setback

The sight of the 21-year-old midfielder leaving the fray in the opening quarter took the shine off Latics' first victory of the League One campaign, which saw them move off the foot of the division.

With fellow summer acquisition Akeel Higgins having limped off after just 12 minutes at Wimbledon on Sunday - and Ryan Trevitt ruled out for up to three months with a freak training ground injury - it's the third serious hamstring problem of the season already.

"Luke's injury isn't a good one, his hamstring isn't great," reported Latics boss Gary Caldwell. "He's still getting tested, but that will be months rather than weeks.

"Obviously on the back of Akeel's injury as well, it's hugely disappointing.

"With Akeel we're looking at five or six weeks, which is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but not a disaster like we are with Luke and Trev.

"I just think it shows the demands of modern football, and every club has the same problems. We're all trying our very best to get players up to speed.

"But while players who've been here since day one of pre-season are very robust, and playing week in week out, minute after minute, with those who've come in later and had fragmented programmes, it's difficult to get those up to speed.

"Luke has fallen into that category, where we've done everything we could, we've held him back, we could have played him straightaway for 90 minutes but we decided not to and build him up slowly.

"So you can do all the right things, and something like this can still happen.

"If we could crack this conundrum in football, with players getting injured, I don't think we'd be working for Wigan very long, we'd be in demand all over the world, because it's a problem for every single football club!

"At this moment in time, all we can do is look into the injuries, and try to be as clear as we can why they're happening, and try to find solutions to those problems.

"But it's a problem I don't think we're ever going to be properly able to solve.”

There was more positive news concerning striker Christian Saydee, who pulled up lame with a calf strain during a behind-closed-doors friendly against Manchester City right at the start of pre-season.

"Chris has been out there running on the grass, building up his running numbers,” added Caldwell.

"But again, that will take time, as we go through all the correct protocols, to ensure he meets all the appropriate targets, before he gets into part training, full training, and then match minutes.

"Having him back and available would be a timely boost and, as I said to all the players that weren't this week, we need everyone to keep working hard to be available to help the team whenever they're called upon.”