Matt Smith – Welcome to Wigan Athletic

Latics have dipped into the free agent market again to bring in highly rated centre midfielder Matt Smith. The 22-year-old left boyhood club Arsenal on July 1st after his contract expired and Latics have managed to beat several other clubs in the race for his signature. It’s no secret that Latics are in need of midfielders and this is a great first signing. I’ve been a fan of Smith since watching him at Doncaster and I’m really annoyed I took him out of my sensible transfers article at the last moment now! So close to two in two!

Smith is a hard working player who sets the tone for the team with his energy, enthusiasm and also his very solid technical skills. As you’d expect from someone who has had his footballing education at Arsenal he’s well versed playing in teams that see a lot of the ball and I think the way we play will suit him down to the ground.

To sign a highly rated youngster on a free who is going to be a regular in the first team is such good business. In years gone by we might’ve opted for a 29-year-old instead who would offer short term solidity but not a lot else, so to see us going down this road with our recruitment is extremely encouraging. A League One quality player who will only improve. Fantastic.

What does he bring to the side?

It’s easy for me to say he offers things none of our other midfielders do because, well, we don’t have any! But in comparison to the options we’ve had at the club in the last 18 months he’s very unique. The closest we’ve had to him in recent times is probably Tom Bayliss in the sense that he’s a genuine playmaker whose technical attributes are a huge part of his game.

Last season there were no playmakers. Tom Naylor, Graeme Shinnie and Scott Smith are all ball winners with minimal output in a creative sense. Christ Tiehi was an excellent ball carrier and technician but did a lot of his work higher up the pitch rather than providing the base at the heart of the midfield, and Max Power was used a creator but from wide areas and more specifically the right half space.

Smith will bring a calmness to the middle of the pitch and I expect a lot of our play will go through him. He’s very comfortable dropping deep to collect the ball from his CBs before pivoting and either finding a pass forward or bringing the ball out himself. Taking the ball on the half turn is something only Christ had the ability to do last season so this is a huge improvement.

Something as simple as a goal kick will be changed completely by the arrival of a composed CM. We’ve got good ball playing CBs and I imagine the plan will be to take goal kicks short, but the addition of Smith gives us another outlet. We can either pass it straight into his feet and allow him to turn out and beat the first line of engagement, or we can use him to provide a triangle with the centre CB and the keeper.

He’s right footed so would prefer to control the ball and pivot on his stronger side but he does seem pretty comfortable going either way. I’ve seen clips of his ball striking with his left foot and you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s his stronger one so that’s a real positive too. It allows him to have a really extensive passing range and access most parts of the pitch.

What I like about Smith is he’s not afraid to play the killer pass. He tends to look for the option that could bring the highest reward, even if it’s a hard pass to make. He’s comfortable using the outside of his right foot, his left as I’ve already mentioned, and disguised passes to try and manufacture chances from unlikely situations. We don’t have anyone willing to do that at the club so it’s a welcome addition.

We’ll probably need to pair him with a more defensively solid option but he’s no slouch when it comes to the dirty side of the game. His work rate is top and he seems to read the game pretty well, stepping in front of opponents to nick the ball away and bring it forward. As the team’s primary playmaker it would make sense to pair him with a tall ball winner, but he’s versatile enough to play the more defensive role too if needs be.

Smith has over 70 games of experience in League One which is pretty impressive for a player as young as him. The graphic below shows his performances in a really poor Doncaster side in the 2021/22 season and as you can see he stood out. Creatively he’s superb, his passing (which was hindered by the system he played in to some extent) is good and will improve, and he puts himself about defensively.

Where might he play?

As part of our double pivot I imagine he’d prefer to play on the right but a lot of his work will be done all over the pitch, as is the nature of the way our midfielders operate. He’ll more than likely be the midfielder who drops deep to collect the ball and will end up popping up all over the pitch. There’s a lot of freedom given to our CMs and I think that’ll suit him.

If we play a midfield three at any point he could definitely play the holding role too. Whilst he would need some defensive support from his other CMs he’s a classic deep-lying playmaker and can dictate tempo from deep. I’d profile him as an 8 rather than a 6 but that doesn’t mean he can’t do both well. It’ll be interesting to see how he’s used by Maloney.

Final Thoughts

This might be my favourite signing so far, which if you’ve read my articles on Liam Morrison and Jonny Smith you’ll know that’s a big thing to say. Matt Smith was linked with a move to the Championship less than a year ago and we’ve just signed him for absolutely nothing in League One. This is everything I wanted from our recruitment this summer.

At 22 there’s so much room left for him to develop and assuming we give him plenty of game time, which we should do, he’ll continue to improve. I’ve no doubt that if things go well for Smith at Latics he’ll be a Championship player in the next few years, be it with us or not. If he performs well at Latics we may well have a £1m+ player on our hands in the future.

Keep these kind of signings coming, Latics! We’re building a squad that should be good enough to achieve our goals in the short term as well as providing us with players who can stick around for years. It’s a completely no risk deal. I love it and I hope every signing we make gets me as excited and as confident as this one has. We’re back on the right track, Tics!

Welcome to Wigan Athletic, Matt Smith!