Last season was one of the most successful ones in club’s history and the Latics have mostly Steve Bruce to thank for. With shrewd dealings in the transfer market, he managed to transform the team from relegation strugglers to the team fighting for European places. The Latics played really well last season and if the club hadn’t sold Emile Heskey and Wilson Palacios in January, they would have probably ensured European qualification. The decision to sell the two best players showed the lack of ambition by the club management and that is probably one of the reasons why Bruce decided to quit the Latics and join Sunderland instead. Wigan’s cult hero Roberto Martinez was brought as a replacement and he has signed a three-year deal with the club he had spent 6 years in as a player.
Martinez will have a tough job on his hands since another very important player left the club, and yes I am talking about Antonio Valencia, who joined Manchester United. The new boss will have to severely strengthen his squad if Wigan are to challenge for Europe, although that objective looks a bit far-fetched. He did bring Jordi Gomez from Espanyol but at least three or four players will need to follow if Martinez wants to build a serious team. Excellent young midfielder Lee Cattermole is heavily tipped to leave the Latics this summer, as the host of Premiership clubs is interested in his services. If Cattermole leaves, I am afraid that Wigan will be much closer to the relegation places than the top part of the table.
Martinez is likely to bring a couple of more players to the club but the new players, as well as the manager, will need some time to adapt and team’s performances will probably suffer. I will not be too surprised if Wigan enter the relegation fight next season and the odds online bookmakers are offering on Wigan to go down (around 5.50) could be worth taking.
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