Wigan Athletic Football Club News

• Nickname:Latics
• Founded:1932
• Manager:Roberto Martinez

• Ground:JJB Stadium
• Capacity:25,000

Latics forced to shelve deal

12 Jul 2008 - 10:48:44

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Wigan Athletic manager Steve Bruce has revealed his frustration after red tape prevented him from signing one of his main summer targets.

The Latics have been forced to shelve plans to sign Honduras midfielder Hendry Thomas after he was denied a work permit when an appeal ruled he had not featured in the required number of international matches.

Bruce had agreed a deal with the player's club side Olimpia and also Thomas himself, but has now been forced back to the drawing board as he looks to bolster his midfield options.

Wigan already have one Honduras international midfielder in Wilson Palacios at the JJB Stadium.

"We are disappointed because we did our homework over the summer for Hendry Thomas, a midfielder who plays alongside Palacios on the Honduras team," revealed Bruce.

"We have worked so hard on that over the last three or four months, agreed a fee, been out to Miami, been out to Honduras and parts of South America to try to tie the boy up and unfortunately he hasn't met the work permit criteria.

"We are absolutely devastated we didn't get that, we lost it on appeal yesterday. We had that one pencilled in as one of our midfield players so we will have to look again.

"We have been kicked in the teeth. It saddens me for all the work the club has done. You get all that done and because of a little red tape we have lost out.

"I only have two recognised central midfielders in (Michael) Brown and Palacios so we will have to look to strengthen that area."