Tim Akinola has returned to Arsenal after playing just 45 minutes for Dundee United.
The on-loan Gunners midfielder has made just one appearance since joining United in January, starting in February’s 0-0 draw against St Johnstone.
He was withdrawn at half-time.
Akinola, 20, has been subsequently sent back to the English Premier League giants for treatment after picking up a slight knock in United training.
And Tannadice boss Tam Courts has revealed that Akinola is unlikely to return to Scotland.
“Tim had a training ground knock and went down to get that scanned with Arsenal,” explained Courts.
“It looks like he has to do rehab there. I don’t actually think we’ll see him playing for us again this season.
“It was a really challenging time for him.
“He played against St Johnstone at a time when we were searching for form and results. We changed the formation after that game and started to get a bit more consistency in performance.
“He found it tough to get back in the team.
“We’ve spoken to him and I think he still had a lot of good development time up here — but he came here to play and hasn’t played as much as he would have wanted.”
Levitt lessons
However, Courts has urged a gutted Akinola to draw inspiration from Dylan Levitt, who is thriving in his third loan spell away from Manchester United.
Levitt’s dazzling displays followed an unsuccessful stint with Charlton and an adventurous spell with Croatian cracks NK Istra 1961.
By contrast, this was Akinola’s first time being farmed out by Arsenal.
“It’s funny when you compare and contrast with Dylan Levitt,” continued Courts. “This is Dylan’s third loan.
“He went to Charlton and it didn’t work out, but he then goes to Croatia and, when he comes to us, he becomes a key player.
“I was trying to make sure Tim understands that sometimes the challenges you face on your first loan are actually what can give you the platform to succeed elsewhere — because I imagine he will go out on loan more frequently after this.”
On the topic of Levitt, Courts is quietly confident that the metronomic midfielder will be fit to face Hibernian on Saturday after being forced to withdraw from Wales duty due to illness.
“Dylan did some light work on Thursday,” said Courts. “If he comes through that okay, I would expect him to train on Friday and be okay for the Hibs game.
“It was just a respiratory illness. He was in his bed for a few days and traveled up late on Wednesday night.”
Max Biamou is carry is undertaking ‘light work’ in training but will not be in contention to face the Hibees.
