Wigan Athletic boss Leam Richardson has confirmed left-back Joe Bennett has suffered a “minor setback” in his bid to return to full fitness.
During the summer window, Wigan Athletic brought Bennett in on a free transfer in a bid to bolster their defensive ranks.
The former Aston Villa man’s move came after his release from Cardiff City, which brought an end to his five-year stint in South Wales.
However, he is still waiting on his Latics’ debut, having arrived with a knee problem. Now, manager Leam Richardson has revealed Bennett suffered a “minor setback” during his recovery.
READ: Leam Richardson reveals Wigan Athletic’s stance on potential loan departures before January
As quoted by Wigan Today, Richardson confirmed the setback but said it’s “not really significant”.
The Wigan Athletic boss went on to say that they are preferring to take their time with Bennett’s recovery to try and avoid an issue cropping up once he returns to action. Here’s what he had to say:
“Joe had a minor setback early on, but he’s improving loads.
“With any injury, sometimes you get little niggles you can’t get away from. That put him back a week or two, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s not really significant.
“We didn’t want him to come in and then potentially have to go back out. We want him to come in and then be fit enough to stay in.”
Competition upon his return
Since the start of the campaign, Tendayi Darikwa has successfully held down the starting spot at left-back, despite his main position being on the right-hand side.
Max Power has held down the spot on the right, with skipper Darikwa filling in on the opposite side.
Tom Pearce and Luke Robinson are also options on the left-hand side, so it will be interesting to see if Bennett can make his way into the starting XI once he makes a return to action.
