Liam Morrison – Welcome to Wigan Athletic

Latics have kicked off their summer business with the loan signing of Liam Morrison from Bayern Munich. 20-year-old Morrison is a Scottish youth international who knows Shaun Maloney from his time at Celtic as a youngster, and this may be what has allowed us to pull off what seems to be a pretty impressive and relatively high profile signing.

There are a lot of positions that Latics need to strengthen this summer and if I’m being honest the Centre Back spots weren’t top of my priority list. However, to get a really solid fourth choice in this early on in the window means we can get cracking with building defensive partnerships and ensuring new arrival Morrison knows what the manager wants from him. I like it a lot.

It would appear this has been something in the works for a while and the fact Maloney has worked with him before suggests Morrison was always a key target. To get it sorted so quickly, and seemingly out of nowhere, is impressive and I hope it’ll be a sign of things to come in terms of recruitment. Cheap, young, hungry and talented players who can provide value on and off the pitch is ideal and whilst Morrison only joins us on loan it’s still a very sensible signing.

What does he bring to the side?

This is a statement signing from Shaun Maloney in the sense that it’s a shift in what we’re looking for from our players. As you can imagine from someone signed by Bayern Munich as a youngster Morrison is excellent on the ball and really comfortable playing out from the back. We know how Shaun Maloney wants to play and having CBs who are good on the ball is vital.

Morrison has a lot of composure on the ball and is very press resistant, something all CBs that play in Germany have to be in order to excel. Whilst the likelihood is we won’t be pressed as intensely or as regularly as we were in the Championship it’s still a great quality to have. Fellow CBs Jack Whatmough, Jason Kerr and Charlie Hughes are all well equipped to play Maloney’s style and as a quartet it’s high quality for the level.

He’s right footed which is a slight concern for me only because we don’t have a left footed option. Maloney seems more than happy to play a right footer on the left, he did it with Omar Rekik and Ryan Nyambe last season, so that shouldn’t be a problem. What it does allow is for a left to right cross field pass to the RWB which is his favoured switch of play based on the clips I’ve seen of him. Charlie Hughes could do this too and I expect it’ll be a battle between those two for the LCB spot.

Hughes and Morrison seems like the obvious comparison to make. Two young, talented, technically excellent CBs and we’re lucky to have them both. Morrison’s experience playing for Bayern’s second team in the regional leagues of Germany isn’t quite comparable to the 20 Championship games Hughes has played but it feels like both are at similar stages of their careers that could become really successful.

The stats show they’re very similar which could also suggest Morrison has been brought in just in case Hughes is to move on. Defensively I’d say Hughes has the slight edge although Morrison is strong in the air and positionally very good. On the ball Morrison thrives – 94.75% short/medium pass completion is outstanding. He’s keen to get the ball forward as seen by his progressive passes numbers and is extremely accurate when doing so. He adds so much quality on the ball and gives us a genuine playmaking option from defence.

Morrison isn’t much of a ball carrier but does seem confident enough bringing the ball out of defence a little bit before passing the ball. He’s a similar profile to the departed Omar Rekik but doesn’t run with the ball quite as often which does kind of limit our line breaking ability somewhat. However, assuming a dynamic CM is added to the squad it shouldn’t be a problem as they can do the bulk of the ball carrying ahead of him.

Shaun Maloney wants bravery on the ball and technical quality to match it and they’re two things Morrison has in bucket loads. He gives us a good amount of defensive security which is obviously the priority for a CB, but his passing range opens up so many playing pattern opportunities that we would’ve found difficult to manufacture otherwise.

Where might he play?

I’ve touched on it already but he’s right footed and his preference is on the right side. However, I believe he’s well equipped to play on the left should that be needed and ultimately – whilst it’s ideal in my opinion to have natural footedness mirror the side of the pitch they play in defence – Maloney doesn’t share that view. And well, he knows best of course!

Final Thoughts

Really happy with this signing. A cheap loan for a player who has a lot of trust in the manager – something that often isn’t the case with loanees (Miguel Azeez I’m looking at you) – is a no brainer really. He adds depth and quality to an already strong position and fits the profile I was personally looking for in a RCB.

Even if we were to lose someone like Hughes or Kerr I’m more confident knowing this is the player who would likely fill the hole left by their departure. He profiles really well against Charlie Hughes, probably better than any of the options I covered in my CB transfer article, so it makes a lot of sense. It’s genuinely smart, sensible and financially safe recruitment.

I hope this is a sign of things to come. It’s one loan spot used up so there’s four more to go and I expect us to use them on similar players to this. High potential players who offer quality in the short term and room to develop quickly throughout the season. That’ll do for me!

Welcome to Wigan Athletic, Liam Morrison!