Latics chief cool on contracts

06 September 2012 12:38
Chief executive Jonathan Jackson insists he is not unduly concerned by the number of Wigan players in their final year of their contracts. Striker Franco di Santo and defenders Antolin Alcaraz and Maynor Figueroa are the most high-profile of those whose current deals expire next summer.

But Jackson said negotiations had been on-going for some time and he was not too concerned they had not yet been tied down to new contracts. "There is a lot of time before that would ever become a major concern," he told the Wigan Evening Post. "We have been talking with some players who are coming up to the end of their contracts now for 18 months, and that will continue.

"It would be unfair for me to comment too much at this stage because it's still early but we're not unduly concerned. "At the moment, we're just concentrating on getting off to a great start in the league and whatever will happen will happen." However, Jackson added it was imperative for players to be secured to contracts so, at the very least, the club could make money from their sale, as was highlighted by Victor Moses' departure to Chelsea.

"It's not important just to bring top players in - you have to keep hold of the top players you already have," he added. "That doesn't mean just preventing them from being transferred to another team it means securing their contracts so they can't walk away as free agents. "We want to keep all of our quality players here but it's not always possible, as we saw last season. "The players have a lot of power these days, and they have the right to see out their contracts and then have a look at their options. "You try to do what is right for the football club but you can only do what is possible."

Source: team_talk