Wigan Athletic 2024/25 Sensible Transfers – A Review

So that’s that, after seven articles, 74 profiled players, well over 10,000 words and a fair amount of my time taken up the 2024/25 Sensible Transfers series has been completed.

At the time of writing they’ve racked up nearly 7,000 views between them which is beyond anything I could ever have imagined, and I hope that those of you who did have a read of them found them enjoyable.

If you haven’t read them I would highly recommend doing so before continuing here, because the context behind these signings is really quite important.

In this piece I’m going to explain my hopes for the transfer window based on the players that I put forward as sensible transfers, and what the Wigan Athletic squad would look like in my ideal world.

I’ll be building the squad across a number of different scenarios, again which will be taken from the individual position articles. I’ll explain these in depth beforehand to try and make things as easy to follow as possible!

Finally, I will also look to fill the ideal squad profile set-up from my Retained List Reaction piece.

All in all it’s a bit of fun to show you how I’d like the squad to look come the opening day of the season. There’s plenty of work to do, and it’s already well underway. I can’t wait to see what this transfer window has in store for Latics.

Scenario One – Big Investment

Firstly, Charlie Hughes leaves the club for a big-money move to the Premier League. He joins newcomers Ipswich Town for £6m plus add-ons, and a Tractor Boys player is included in the deal.

Sam Tickle also departs the club, joining Everton for £6m plus add-ons as the Toffees look to mould him into the next Jordan Pickford. As part of his development he returns to Latics on loan for the 2024/25 season.

Elsewhere, Jordan Jones and Jason Kerr leave the club at the end of their contracts, while Callum McManaman and Harry McHugh remain at the club having agreed new terms.

With a cool £12m of transfer money in his pocket Mike Danson gives Shaun Maloney a very competitive budget to spend on rebuilding his squad.

The manager sets out the list of profiles he wants to target, which are as follows:

Back-Up Goalkeeper / Left Centre Back / Right Centre Back / Central Centre Back / Experienced Defender / Left Back / Left Midfielder / Box-to-Box Midfielder / Creative Attacking Midfielder / Direct Winger x2 / Target Forward / Poacher

There are thirteen key profiles to add, plus room to invest money in talented younger players who might not have an immediate impact on the first team, but will develop within our academy structure and have the potential to break into the first team in the future.

Here is how I would go about recruiting this summer if this scenario, or something similar, unfolds:

That would leave our squad looking something like this:

And the finances looking like this:

I think that squad is capable of pushing for the play-offs without a doubt. There’s a good blend of young players in the early stages of their career, players who are approaching their prime years and still have plenty of room for development, and experienced players who will lead the group.

There might not be loads of older experienced heads, but players like Luke Offord, Sam Sherring and Will Patching are players with lots of games under their belts despite their young age. That’s what we need more than anything to be honest, game experience rather than age experience.

The profiles we are missing are all filled, and from a business perspective it would be brilliant as we make a huge profit and bring in at least ten players who could very easily be sold on for profit in the future. There’s also no real reliance on loanees which puts us in a more secure position for years to come.

This is probably as close to my ideal window as we can realistically get.

Scenario Two – Average Investment

Charlie Hughes leaves and joins Brentford for £6m plus add-ons.

Jordan Jones leaves the club at the end of his contract. Jason Kerr, Callum McManaman and Harry McHugh agree to sign new contracts with the club.

Sam Tickle remains at the club as no club matches the asking price, meaning it’s just the Charlie Hughes money that comes in to support the club through the season. As a result Shaun Maloney’s budget is limited, but he is still able to pay transfer fees for one or two key players.

The manager sets out the list of profiles he wants to target, which are as follows:

Back-Up Goalkeeper / Left Centre Back / Right Centre Back / Central Centre Back / Left Back / Left Midfielder / Box-to-Box Midfielder / Creative Attacking Midfielder / Direct Winger x2 / Target Forward / Poacher

There are twelve key profiles to add, plus room to invest money in talented younger players who might not have an immediate impact on the first team, but will develop within our academy structure and have the potential to break into the first team in the future.

Here is how I would go about recruiting this summer if this scenario, or something similar, unfolds:

That would leave our squad looking something like this:

And the finances looking like this:

Again, that squad looks really impressive on paper and has everything we’d need to challenge at the top end of the table. Keeping hold of Jason Kerr gives us a captaincy option from within, and I do think renewing his contract will be one of the most important bits of business we can do this summer.

I hope that we prioritise signing players permanently where possible, regardless of the budget constraints. There should be money to spend, but just because it’s there doesn’t mean we have to splash it all either. There is enough quality in the free agent market to build a good squad, but some positions do require extra investment.

Phoenix Patterson, Will Patching and Gassan Ahadme are top targets fore me, and profile wise we will struggle to recruit players of similar ability for free. We have to be smart, and with Maloney and Rioch I think it’s fair to assume we will be.

I would be very happy if this window unfolded, and in terms of the financial side of things this is probably the most realistic.

Scenario Three – Minimal Investment

Charlie Hughes joins Ipswich Town for £6m plus add-ons, and a player comes the other way as part of the deal.

Sam Tickle also departs the club, joining Everton for £6m plus add-ons as the Toffees look to mould him into the next Jordan Pickford. He stays as their back-up.

Jordan Jones, Jason Kerr, Callum McManaman and Harry McHugh all extend their contract. Kerr is named club captain by Shaun Maloney.

Despite bringing in a massive amount of money through the sales of Tickle and Hughes a decision is made to spend the money on other aspects of the club. Christopher Park is renovated, money is invested into the academy facilities and more money is put towards general club improvements.

As a result, the recruitment team are tasked with building a squad of free transfers and loans for a second season running.

The manager sets out the list of profiles he wants to target, which are as follows:

First-Choice Goalkeeper / Back-Up Goalkeeper / Left Centre Back / Right Centre Back / Central Centre Back / Left Back / Box-to-Box Midfielder / Creative Attacking Midfielder / Direct Winger / Target Forward / Poacher

Here is how I would go about recruiting this summer if this scenario, or something similar, unfolds:

That would leave our squad looking something like this:

And the finances looking like this:

For what it’s worth I don’t think this will happen, and if it does I’ll be a bit annoyed. However, I’d like to think that I’ve shown here that it is actually possible to put together a strong group of players without having to spend any transfer fees. If you had said that was the case last summer I wouldn’t have believed you, but we managed it.

Maybe a slight worry I have is that Mike Danson will have seen that, and thinks he can get away with it by doing the same again. In a way it is possible, but if we have any ambition we have to be looking to bring in the best possible players and unfortunately in some positions they will require a fee.

With free agents and loans, as well as keeping key members of the squad who are out of contract, we cab definitely build a solid squad though. I like the idea of spending the income from the Tickle and Hughes on improving the infrastructure of the club, and do think we should invest heavily in improving our training and academy facilities. I just hope that doesn’t come at the expense of our squad building.

Final Thoughts

Whether any of those scenarios actually play out remains to be seen, but I think the three of them give you a good idea of how we can recruit positively regardless of any budget constraints, player sales and contract renewals.

It’s a massive summer for Latics and we’re more than likely going to have to replace two of the best young players in the EFL. They would be a loss to any side, and how we go about filling the holes they leave will be vital.

With Shaun Maloney and Gregor Rioch we’re definitely in safe hands, and as the club rebuilds itself quietly behind the scenes I’m sure they’ll try and recruit players in a similar way.

And just finally from me, thank you for your time. These articles aren’t short, so if you’ve read one, two or all seven of them it means a hell of a lot to me. I hope it was worthwhile for you.

Now then, I’ll be back when we start making some signings. I wonder how many of them will be sensible…?