WE WON’T BE BULLIED

Posted on August 22, 2012

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez has said that the club will not be bullied upon by the likes of Chelsea when it comes to keeping their players like Victor Moses. He alleged that Chelsea used similar tactics to snap up Juan Mata.

The 19-year-old Nigerian international has been linked with Chelsea throughout this summer. Even though it was learnt that Wigan were demanding around £ 10 million for the striker, Chelsea started making their offer for the player at around £ 3.5 million. It has infuriated Wigan. Even after months of negotiations, Chelsea are not prepared to come anywhere near the valuation of Wigan athletic.

As a result, the manager Roberto Martinez has issued a strong statement saying that the club will not be bullied by the bigger clubs like Chelsea. Victor Moses has only one season left on his current deal, but he will be eligible for a fee due to the fact that he is under the age of 24 years. Wigan athletic also have two provide some of the transfer fee towards the former club of Victor Moses – Crystal Palace – due to the clause inserted into his contract when he made the move to the Premier league. Victor Moses has emerged as an outstanding player last season after scoring six goals for Wigan.

“The priority is not bringing players in. The priority is the players we have here and getting them up to speed as quickly as we can. It’s very important that the group of players we have here are still motivated and excited about the challenge ahead – and that is the case. When you start being successful on the pitch, you are going to attract the attention of bigger clubs. I have always seen that as a positive,” said the Wigan manager Roberto Martinez in the interview given to the Observer. Wigan will be facing Chelsea on the opening day of the season.

WIGAN MAKE FIRST SIGNING

Posted on July 26, 2012

Wigan athletic have made their first major purchase of the summer after securing the services of Scottish midfielder Fraser Fyvie, who plays for Scotland club Aberdeen, on a three-year deal.

Fraser Fyvie has been linked with a number of Premier league clubs including Wigan and Fulham in the summer. He has been extremely good for Aberdeen last season, but it is thought that the club are willing to listen to offers for the 20-year-old midfielder due to the financial constraints. Now, it has emerged that Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has moved in quickly to secure his signature, which may prove vital in the relegation dogfight this season.

Wigan could still lose a number of high profile players including Victor Moses, who has been linked with a £ 10 million move to Chelsea. The European champions made an initial bid of £ 4 million, which was rejected immediately by the club. However, it is thought that Wigan manager Dave Whelan will be willing to consider the offer if it is in the region of £ 10 million. Fraser Fyvie has made 66 appearances for Aberdeen in the first-team. Roberto Martinez has said that he is one of the ideal players for Wigan because he is technically gifted.

“Technically he’s very gifted, enjoys playing in midfield where he can cover large areas. He’s very powerful off the ball and in possession is someone who can read the tempo of the game very well. Also you have to remember that for such a young player he’s played a lot of games in the Scottish Premier League at a high standard which shows his maturity. I’m excited because we’re signing such a strong character,” said the Wigan athletic manager after announcing the deal to bring in Fraser Fyvie from Aberdeen for an undisclosed fee.

MARTINEZ IS FRONT RUNNER

Posted on June 13, 2012

Wigan athletic manager Roberto Martinez has emerged as the front-runner for taking over at Liverpool in the summer, according to the Liverpool News website. Liverpool had been without a manager for a few weeks now after sacking manager Kenny Dalglish following a very poor season in the league.

Despite winning the Carling cup, the new Liverpool owners were extremely unsatisfied with Kenny Dalglish after his failure to lead the club into the top four. The new owners have placed finishing in the top four a major priority for Liverpool given that it would give access to around £ 35 million from the Champions League revenue.

Instead of being linked with only one manager, Liverpool have been linked with the likes of Wigan manager Roberto Martinez, former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, and former England manager Fabio Capello. They have had the chance to interview each and every one of them, but it is seems that Roberto Martinez has emerged as the front-runner in the first round of interviews.

It is thought that Liverpool will not provide the new manager with a significant transfer amount, but they could resort to the possibility of selling players like Stewart Downing, who has been underperforming massively since his arrival from Aston Villa last summer.

Former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has said that he wants more time when it comes to choosing the next club. He has also said that he wants a lot of stability from the next club because that would help him take the club forward. At the moment, there is very little stability at Anfield after they recently announced losses of almost £ 50 million. The figures could have been even greater if Liverpool did not receive the profits from the sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea – a British record deal worth around £ 50 million.

WHELAN BACKS MARTINEZ

Posted on May 10, 2012

Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan has said that he will not stand in the way of manager Roberto Martinez if the Spaniard decides to leave Wigan at the end of this season.

Roberto Martinez has the an incredible job with the Wigan players after keeping them in the Premier league for two consecutive seasons. Despite faced with the prospect of relegation going into the final months of the season, Martinez has been able to keep them in the Premier league.

He came extremely close to leaving the club in the summer, but ultimately turned down the offer from Aston Villa.
However, his work has received a lot of praise in recent weeks, and consequently, a lot of rumours linking him with other big clubs including Tottenham. Dave Whelan was not against Roberto Martinez when Aston Villa approached him last summer, and the Wigan chairman has said that he will once again stand by the decision this time around as well.

Wigan has improved their chances of survival after being rock bottom of the table at Christmas. Wins against Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Newcastle United have provided them with Champions League form in the last few months. As a result, they have a three-point cushion from the relegation zone with only two matches remaining.

“He’s doing a magnificent job. I’ve always said Roberto will go to one of the top clubs in Europe and when that time comes he will leave Wigan with my blessing. He’s just a brilliant manager and he will get one of the top jobs in Europe. I don’t want to lose Roberto but it is inevitable he will climb the ladder. He got support from the chairman and he got support from the fans too,” Whelan told Radio Five Live regarding the future of Roberto Martinez.

MOSES SHOULD BE FIT

Posted on April 16, 2012

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez has said that he is hopeful that striker Victor Moses will be fit for the match against Stoke city on Saturday.

Victor Moses was injured in the match against Liverpool after he was kicked by Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel in the head, which has proven to be more serious than initially feared.

Wigan finally won the match 2-1 after a splendid performance, which led to their first win at Anfield. It was initially thought that Victor Moses could have broken his jaw, which would have halted the progress Wigan have been making in the league in the last few weeks.

However, scans have confirmed that the striker has not broken jaw and that there is every chance he will be fit for the match against Stoke city during the weekend.

Roberto Martinez has confirmed that Victor Moses is currently 70% is rated to start the match against Stoke city. He said that there was no fracture of the jaw, but he was still awaiting the confirmation from the doctors that he is good enough to play in the match. Wigan have been having an injury crisis in the forward department, with Hugo Rodallega and Mohamed Diame only now approaching full fitness, but it is highly unlikely that they will take part in this weekend match against Stoke city.

“At the moment I would say it is 70% he is going to be fully fit, but that is as much as I can say at the moment. “The reports from the hospital were very positive but we need to see how he reacts to the work in training. “It looks positive but he is not going to be 100% until Friday. At least there is no fracture, which we were a little bit fearful about,” Martinez said.

MOSES WANTS TO STAY UP

Posted on March 20, 2012

Wigan athletic striker Victor Moses has said that he would not be going down with Wigan into the Championship if the club are relegated this season.

Wigan athletic are currently rock bottom in the Premier league table, as their chances of getting away from the relegation zone diminishes every weekend.

Victor Moses was signed by current Wigan athletic manager Roberto Martinez from the Championship club Crystal Palace a few seasons ago.

Even though Victor Moses has not fulfilled his potential yet, the winger has said that he would not be interested in playing in the Championship with Wigan and will be looking for a move away from the club if they are relegated.

This will certainly not come as a major shock for Wigan athletic staff and fans given that manager Roberto Martinez has previously expressed his concern regarding the future of Victor Moses. Even though Victor Moses has scored only two goals in 21 appearances for Wigan, he is regarded as one of the bright young prospects in English football right now. As a result, there certainly won’t be a dearth of clubs interested in signing the player if Wigan are relegated in the summer. Wigan athletic lost their recent match against Swansea 2-0.

“I believe Wigan will escape relegation. But I don’t think I would go down with them if the reverse is the case at the end of the season,” Moses admitted in an interview given to the British tabloid ‘The Sun’ recently. Victor Moses has been a regular first-team player for Wigan athletic this season. He has so far played in each and every one of the matches for Wigan athletic in the Premier league. Victor Moses, however, will not be the only departure from the DW stadium should they be relegated from the Premier league this season.

WIGAN CLOSE THE GAP

Posted on February 20, 2012

Wigan Athletic managed to close the gap between them and the rest of the other relegation candidates thanks to a well earned win against Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok stadium.

Manager Robert Martinez will have been relieved to have registered 3 points against their North West rivals, as it has been a very long time since his team had enjoyed such a significant boost in their points tally.

They now sit just 1 point behind Bolton, and only 3 points away from safety out of the relegation zone. Due to their fairly abysmal goal difference, Wigan are affectively a point behind their relegation rivals as if they end up on the same amount of points come the end of the season, the chances are they will be the ones to go down, unless they can claw back the difference from their rivals.

Their next few fixtures are definitely games that manager Martinez should be able to make his players believe they have a good chance of picking up points, with Aston Villa, Swansea, and Norwich being their 3 next Premier League games. Villa are a team out of sorts at the moment, with Norwich and Swansea being two teams who have just climbed out of the Championship.

With talented players such as Hugo Rodallega and Victor Moses in their squad, Wigan do have attacking threats within their team, but Martinez undoubtedly has one of the weakest squads in the Premiership to work with.

Some are of the opinion that, despite being fairly unsuccessful with the Latics, Martinez has proven what a quality manager he is but managing to guide his squad away from relegation last year.