Japanese international, Ryo Miyaichi joined Wigan from Arsenal for a season long loan. However, he has not featured much for manager Roberto Martinez. He did manage to get into the team against Everton in the FA Cup quarter-finals, however their superb 3-0 win at Goodison Park was marred by Miyaichi’s nasty ankle injury, as he was stretchered off after being on the receiving end of a malicious tackle from Everton’s Kevin Mirallas.

Manager Martinez spoke to Wigan’s official website, where he revealed, “It was a terrible challenge. We are waiting on the scan but we are not very positive on it.”

“We feel he ruptured the ligaments. We will have to wait and see but he doesn’t seem to have an opportunity to finish the season.”

With his season looking all but over, it looks like the one who will be most affected by this other than the player himself would be the 20-year old’s parent club, Arsenal. A bad injury at such a young age can have an effect on his entire career ahead of him. Some players manage to come back to their full potential, however many of them don’t.

Arsenal are well aware of that, given the horrific injury suffered by Welsh national team captain Aaron Ramsey. The young midfielder suffered a broken leg from Stoke City skipper Ryan Shawcross’s poorly timed tackle back in 2011. Prior to the injury, he was one of the most influential midfielders in the league. However, since coming back from injury almost a year ago, Ramsey is still trying to return to his best form for the Arsenal team.

With Miyaichi set to be back at Arsenal next season, the Gunners will certainly be very careful regarding the way Miyaichi makes his comeback from this injury should it prove to be serious. They might need the youth and pace of Miyaichi for next season. It remains to be seen if he will manage to shrug off this setback and return stronger than ever?