Kell Watts – Welcome to Wigan Athletic

Perhaps the title should say welcome ‘BACK’ to Wigan Athletic! Latics have secured the signing of Kell Watts on loan from Newcastle United for the 2023/24 season, just two years on from his first spell at the club. Leam Richardson brought him to the club in 2021 and he played a big part in our promotion that season, hopefully he can have a similar impact this time around.

It’s a profile that I was keen for us to add to the squad so I’m happy with the deal. A left-footed Centre Back is something we don’t have in the squad currently and the addition of Watts will allow us to play a well balanced defensive line. He’s got the raw attributes to play how we want to play and I think he’ll fit in well.

The fact that the initial loan move becomes a permanent deal at the end of the season takes this from a decent signing to a great one. We keep our expenditure as low as possible, and with his contract up at the end of the season we won’t have to part with a significant fee for him when he leaves Newcastle. One of our loan spots has been used up but that shouldn’t be too big a problem.

What does he bring to the side?

Arguably the biggest asset Watts brings to the side is his left footedness. We’ve got four very good right footed CBs at the club already but, as is the case in the game of football as a whole, we’ve found it tricky to get a good left sided CB. Curtis Tilt is still around but is nowhere near the standard of ball player we need, hence a move for Watts has been made and Tilt’s not seen a minute of football under Maloney.

Kell Watts is much more suited to playing out from the back than I think a lot of people give him credit for. The idea of him that most Latics fans have in their heads is of a long range passer with an excellent switch of play, but not much in terms of short passing. I would put that largely down to the system he played in, he was asked to be more direct and did as he was told.

It’s fair to say he’s slightly more awkward on the ball than our other options but his tall, almost gangly build lends itself to that. At 6’5″ it’s pretty hard to look glamorous on the ball. the fact he’s been on the books at Newcastle for so long suggests he’s got a decent technical game and under Maloney I’m confident this slightly weaker part of his game will improve.

It’s another reason I’m slightly surprised we’ve settled for him on loan. In the short term I can’t see his passing game reaching the level of Whatmough or Hughes and therefore it’s arguably surprising Maloney has turned to him. It is a limited market though and as an all round package he’s definitely one of the best options available. His brief, injury hit spell at Peterborough last season suggests his ball skills are continuing to improve.

He only managed five full games last season but his performances in those games were very promising according to the data. Well above average in possession and comfortable carrying the ball forward too, if we can continue to get these qualities out of him he’ll be a star. In comparison to Ryan Nyambe who was last seasons LCB under Maloney, I’d argue Watts is an upgrade.

Also, it’s worth remembering that we don’t have to exclusively play it out from the back. The importance have variety shouldn’t be forgotten and having outside CBs (Watts and Hughes) who can spray diagonals and pick out the wing backs is a real asset. Equally he’s capable of bringing it out of defence himself and is relatively athletic which allows him to do so.

Defensively I think he’s pretty solid. His height allows him to be decent in the air and mentally he’s got all the attributes you want from a CB. He’s brave and aggressive, reads the game well and whilst he can be prone to lapses in concentration it’s an area of his game that will improve with age. I trust the coaching staff and the system we play to improve this part of his skillset.

Ultimately his skillset is probably around the level we’re looking to be, top half League One. His game is continually improving and if he can stay injury free he’ll have the time to develop under a really good set of defensive coaches. I’m undecided as to whether I’d want him to start but as a squad option, and more importantly a left-footed option, he’s a solid pick up.

Where might he play?

It’s pretty clear Watts will only play in one spot and that’s left Centre Back. He doesn’t have the game to play as a CCB and for the sake of squad balance we’ll be playing right footers there anyway, so it’s pretty basic for Watts from a tactical perspective. It’s a position he knows well, both in back 3s and back 4s, so there shouldn’t be any issues.

The image above shows the responsibility Watts will have when in possession, with five key passing lanes to utilise. Finding the shorter passes into the feet of the left sided CM and AM will be key and strangely they’ll probably be the ones he finds harder to do. Passes into the striker, or switches of play to the RCM and RWB are the sort of range he’s better at.

At times, given the attacking aggressiveness our LWB options, he’ll be tasked with covering wide zones and defending 1v1 against wingers. It’s an area of his game that is okay but I’d suggest we don’t want to leave him exposed in that area of the pitch too often. As a box defender he’s great but in a 3 we’ll see him being run at more often and it’ll be a challenge he’ll have to overcome.

Final Thoughts

When building a squad it’s important to fill holes as best you can. When recruiting for specific, specialist positions it’s much harder to make a standout signing and often it’s a much better plan to get a solid but unspectacular player in instead of taking risks and leaving yourself short. Kell Watts provides us with a cheap and cheerful answer to a problem area to our squad without being anything risky, and equally without being anything particularly special.

Watts gives us a nice option at LCB and has the potential to develop into a more impressive player as the season goes on. A loan move makes sense financially and with him joining permanently next summer it’s a position we won’t have to worry about for a few seasons now, assuming he remains injury free. It’s very smart business on our part to include that clause in the deal.

Two loan spots down and three to go, I’d suggest the Centre Back department is sorted now assuming nobody leaves. Attention should turn to the CM position and a versatile player to add to a forward line that has been hit by the loss of Will Keane. I think we can all agree it’s now a pretty strong defensive unit, and Kell Watts was the final piece of the puzzle.

Welcome (back) to Wigan Athletic, Kell Watts.