There were some dark days in the James household last year. Matty James missed the entirety of Leicester City’s remarkable championship-winning campaign after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in the penultimate home game of the previous season. Waiting hand on foot on the crestfallen midfielder was his younger brother, Reece, the Wigan Athletic defender and fellow product of Manchester United’s famed youth academy, at least until the roles were reversed and the junior James sibling succumbed to an injury nightmare of his own. Then it was Matty’s turn to play the role of downtrodden butler in the house they shared in Mere, a Cheshire suburb.

The road back for both has been long and painful but they were able to lean on each other for support and, almost a year after suffering an ankle ligament and tendon problem that required two operations, Reece is finally braced for his comeback for Wigan on Sunday afternoon. He could not have picked a more emotive venue for it. Having never got the opportunity to play at Old Trafford in a competitive match during his three years at United, the left-back is hopeful of getting off the substitutes’ bench in the televised FA Cup fourth-round tie. And watching him in the crowd should be Matty, whose own career got a welcome lift yesterday when he made his first appearance on loan for Barnsley from Leicester.

“It would be amazing for me,” said Reece, 23, talking at Wigan’s Euxton training ground on Friday. “I was unfortunate to miss the friendly in pre-season against United [at the DW Stadium] but this one is even better because it is actually at Old Trafford and it is a game with some meaning behind it. I played for United’s Under-21s in a pre-season game against Valencia at Old Trafford but it was nothing like a full house so if I can get on this weekend it will be something I have always wanted to do.