HE wasn’t laughing as he spent 90 minutes warming the subs bench when he hoped to be making his international debut on Wednesday night, but Ryo Miyaichi is fast becoming the joker in the Reebok pack.

The 19-year-old Japanese winger, who arrived on loan from Arsenal in January, is improving his English with every passing day.

And the more accomplished he becomes with the language, the more his team-mates are discovering he has sharp wit and an impish sense of humour.

“He’s a character, a funny lad and the boys like that,” Owen Coyle said of the young flyer, who has quickly established himself as a popular character in the dressing room.

“He’s a talent, he’s determined to be the best he can be and I like working with that type of lad. The players think the world of him and they’ve really taken to him. Language-wise he’s getting so much better, and he always has a smile on his face.”

Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni had led Miyaichi to believe he would feature at some point of Japan’s World Cup game against Uzbekistan in Toyota.

But the youngster made a 22,000-mile round trip for nothing when he was unused as a substitute as the hosts lost a meaningless qualifier 1-0 – both nations having already booked their places in the next phase of the qualification process.