Wigan manager Shaun Maloney has hit out at a report that suggested Joe Hugill was ‘struggling’ on loan.
Manchester United decided to send Hugill on loan in the summer because they thought he was ready to experience first-team football elsewhere.
The aim of every loan move is for a player to go away before returning with more experience. First-team football will only do their development good and prepare them for life as professionals, even at League One level.
Hugill shined for United’s U21s in 2023/24 but failed to score in his first five games for Wigan. However, he has scored three goals in his last two appearances, so things are beginning to look up for the United loanee.
His loanee manager Maloney thought it was only a matter of time before Hugill scored. Now he’ll hope the young striker can continue his current form throughout the season.
Maloney was asked whether something had suddenly ‘clicked’ for Hugill this month and he said, as quoted by Wigan Today: “No. He’s already shown me what he can do. He’s been in those positions all season, our problem has been that final pass, that final cross, into him.
“Joe’s been in there, and he should have had probably double figures chances… but he hasn’t been given those chances. At Bristol, those balls fell in the right areas for him.
“And you saw what happened, so it’s up to us to keep finding him in those positions. I read something online written by someone that wasn’t particularly positive about Joe’s start here.
“It suggested he was struggling here, but he was never struggling. He was actually learning about the positions I’m wanting him to get into, and he was managing to do that
“We just weren’t finding him in the first few games, but he was still absolutely fantastic without the ball, and his positioning was really good. So I’ve never been anything other than really pleased with him, because I would never judge a player by their goals.
“I’ll judge him on the amount of chances he takes when we manage to find him, and he’s staying to find the back of the net now. Joe’s extremely fast, he’s a very good finisher, and once he gets better at holding the ball up against more physical players, he’s become even better.
“Whatever level the lad wants to reach, there’s no ceiling I’d ever put on him, he has so many attributes. I know that when forward players score, it gives you that lift, but he’s still got work to do. There’s different ways of scoring that he can get better at, but he’s had a very good start here.”
All Hugill can do is feed on the service he gets and it sounds like Maloney has plenty of faith in him, which is encouraging from a United perspective.
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