The New Defensive Options

It has always been one of our problems at Wigan. To stop other teams scoring, and last season up until February, it has been service as normal. But with a new formation we seemed a lot more solid and stronger as a defensive unit. Now we do need to sign more defensive players. We have a total of seven defenders with true experience at the club at the moment, with two likely to leave this summer (Ronnie Stam is said to be on the way out, and Roman Golobart looks set to go back out on loan).

So it is an area we want to improve and there have been two players that the club have been linked with recently and they look like players Martinez would want to bring in. Adaptable and technically gifted they would be able to slot into the defensive side of our team if and when needed.

The first name that has been round for the past week or so, is the Middlesbrough right back Tony McMahon. A product of the youth team up in the North-East. The player has gone from strength to strength in the Championship and is at an age now (26) where he could make the step up to the Premier League with relative easy due to his physical ability and pace to recover.

Having now played over 100 senior games, he looked like he could slot into the Wigan defense either centrally or in the wide right position as cover for Emmerson Boyce. A deal of about £2 million could see him make the move to Wigan so there is every chance the player could sign.

The other defender Wigan are supposedly looking at is Spanish centre-back Ivan Ramis who is defiantly on his way out of Real Mallorca this summer. The 27 year old has played 164 games for his current club, and nearly signed for Celtic two seasons ago. So there is experience and talent in him and for £4 million, he would come at a relatively cheap price for a player who helped Mallorca to finishing fifth in La Liga this summer.