I was waiting for Blackpool and Fulham versions to come through before publishing this one, but it turns out those sides have no supporters (or at least more taciturn supporters than the rest of the clubs). So with apologies to the Latics fans among our readership (anyone?), here is a look ahead to Wigan Athletic’s transfer business this summer. Erm, it was submitted about two months ago. Thanks Shane.
Wigan Athletic
Shane Lowe
What does your squad need?
The basis of a top ten Premier League team is already there, it just needs to be built upon and
Are Wigan too reliant on Rod?
nurtured. We must retain our most valuable assets (Rodallega, N’Zogbia, Figueroa) and further develop our upcoming talent (Diame, McCarthy, Moses). The squad needs trimming. There are far too many players at the club who are simply not good enough; some left by previous managers, some bought by the current one. We need to add some experience and a bit more resolve to the team. Also we are too reliant on Hugo Rodallega for goals and that needs addressing.
Who should you lose?
Antonio Amaya, Won-Hee Cho, Jason Scotland, Jordi Gomez, Daniel De Ridder, Jason Koumas, Richard Kingson, Olivier Kapo, Paul Scharner, Mario Melchiot and Rachid Bouaouzan. They simply fall short of the required standard at this level. Some never had it, some haven’t put in the effort and in Melchiots case specifically, some have lost it.
How much have you got to spend?
There is money in the bank following the big money sales of Luis Antonio Valencia and Wilson Palacios, but don’t expect us to go extravagantly throwing it around. The current philosophy is to buy small and sell big. I expect us to spend around the £8million mark. Should we lose one of our better players over the summer then maybe Martinez will be granted more.
If you could realistically sign one player this summer, who would it be?
Personally, I would be in for James Beattie. He is a player that we know can score goals in this division, should be available quite cheap following the fall out with Tony Pulis and would probably be happy to come here. If we are going to insist on playing one up top then i think he could do that job well for us.
Is Beattie really anyone's top target?
Paul Scharner out? The lad is absolutely quality.