Ryan Shotton and Nick Powell were the late additions to Owen Coyle's squad as the transfer window closed on Monday evening. Both players have arrived on loan, Shotton for six months, and Powell for the season.
Defender Shotton has arrived from Stoke City and the 24 year old is keen to impress during his time with the Latics, in particular looking forward to the European campaign and trying to establish himself as a centre back.
Speaking to the club's official website, he said: “I’ve got experience of the Championship from earlier in my career and I know how difficult a division it is to try and get out of.
“It’s physical and takes a lot of hard work to reach the top, but seeing some of the quality we have in the squad during my first training session I’ve no doubt that if we perform at our best then we’ll get the results that will push us up the table. “The chance to play European football was also a massive factor in the decision to come here. I was lucky enough to experience it with Stoke City a few years back and it’s a great competition to be involved in.“I’ve been lucky to play a lot of games for Stoke during my time at the club, but whilst I’ll always play where the manager wants me to play, I’m hoping during my time here that I can establish myself as a central defender at this stage of my career.”
Powell meanwhile has joined on a season long loan from Manchester United and will be looking to establish himself in a way similar to Tom Cleverley two seasons ago.
The 19 year old attacking player is a former Crewe Alexandra trainee and scored his debut Manchester United goal against the Latics just last season.
With Grant Holt expected to be out for further two weeks, Powell is likely to go straight into contention for the first team fixture at Leicester on September 14th to support strikers Marc Antoine Fortune and Shaun Maloney.
Leaving the club was 22 year old James McCarthy who joined former Latics boss Roberto Martinez at Everton for a total fee of £15 million.
The fee is made up of an initial £13 million plus up to £2 million in performance related add ons and represented a moral victory for the Latics who refused to move on the initial £15 million valuation of the young Irishman.
Around £2 million of the fee will be paid to McCarthy's former club Hamilton Academicals who had a sell on clause in the agreement that saw McCarthy join the Latics.
McCarthy's departure will be a big loss to the Latics but it must be remembered and cherished just what an ambassador for the club McCarthy has been and he must be commended for his exemplary behaviour in the face of all this transfer speculation.
Without doubt McCarthy will go on to be a big success at Everton and the Toffess are likely to face a battle to hold on to the former Hamilton man as he is certainly destined for the top.
Source: WIGANER.net
Source: FOOTYMAD
