Wigan Athletic star ruled out 'for up to three months' after injury KO

The 20-year-old, who joined Oldham on a short-term loan midway through December, pulled up lame during the first half of the 2-0 victory over Hartlepool on Saturday.

Stones had earlier put Oldham in front, with his third goal in four appearances for the 'other' Latics.

However, he was pictured in the second half sitting on the bench wearing a protective boot, and was later spotted leaving the stadium on crutches.

And Wigan boss Shaun Maloney has confirmed the crushing news.

"Josh isn't good, unfortunately," he said. "It looks as though it could be anything between 10 and 12 weeks, which is obviously a real blow.

"He was on fire at Oldham and was due back on January 12 to compete for a place back here.

"It's a ligament in his foot, it's a bad one, and we're all so disappointed."

Maloney also confirmed midfielder Scott Smith could be sidelined until mi-February with a calf injury picked up during the latter stages of last Friday's victory over Carlisle.

"Scotty's damaged his soleus tendon, and he'll be out for between four to six weeks," reported the Latics chief. "That's also a real shame as Scotty was doing really well.

"On the plus side, Baba (Adeeko) looked like the Baba of six games ago at Barnsley.

"Liam Shaw is also finding some really good form, so let's hope they can keep that going while Scotty is out, but we will miss him."

Meanwhile, Maloney is still waiting to learn the extent of the damage suffered by forward Stephen Humphrys against Carlisle.

Humphrys was replaced shortly after the restart after failing to run off a knock picked up in the first half.

He later shared a picture on social media of a huge bump on his hip, which Maloney says is worse than initially feared.

"We don't know about Stephen, and whether he'll be okay for next week (against Manchester United)," Maloney added.

"I know he'll try everything he can to be fit, but that was a bad one, a lot worse than I thought it was at the time."