Reign in Spain? Malaga target Roberto Martinez as new boss following Wigan's relegation
Reign in Spain? Malaga target Roberto Martinez as new boss following Wigan's relegation
Boss could be part of FA Cup winners' summer talent drain as successor to Manchester City-bound coach Manuel Pellegrini
Roberto Martinez is on Malaga’s shortlist to replace Manuel Pellegrini.
Wigan manager Martinez faces a major dilemma this summer over whether to leave the FA Cup winners following their relegation from the Premier League, which was rubber-stamped with Tuesday's loss to Arsenal.
As
well as Malaga in his homeland, Everton is another possible destination
for the Spaniard, but he faces competition from Cardiff boss Malky
Mackay to succeed Manchester United-bound David Moyes.
Martinez is
thinking over his future after Latics suffered the drop just three days
after lifting the FA Cup, and sources close to him suggest he could be
tempted to go.
Whoever is Wigan boss in August faces losing most
of the players who won places in Latics folklore with last Saturday's
Wembley victory over Manchester City.
But Martinez insists the club will not let any of their stars leave on the cheap.
Top
performers such as Callum McManaman, Shaun Maloney, James McCarthy and
Arouna Kone are already being eyed up by other clubs, and the Latics
will have to operate on a smaller budget in the Championship.
But
Martinez claims their healthy financial situation means they do not have
to accept any cut-price deals for their best players.
“You cannot stop a player from going to a different level,” said the Wigan boss.
“What
you can stop is the value and timing of it, and we are not in a
position where we have to balance the books. We will never be in a
position where we have to undersell our players.
“If you look at
how the club is being run from a financial point of view, we are in a
very strong position because of the situation of allowing players to
leave.” Last hurrah? Where will FA Cup winner Martinez be in August?
Michael Regan - The FA
While Wigan may play hardball over any outgoing transfers,
they are powerless to stop several of their Wembley heroes leaving after
Sunday’s final game of the season against Aston Villa.
Paul
Scharner will return to Hamburg following the end of his loan spell,
while on-loan goalkeeper Joel Robles will go back to Atletico Madrid.
Reserve striker Angelo Henriquez will also rejoin parent club Manchester United.
Antolin
Alcaraz, Maynor Figueroa, Franco Di Santo and Ronnie Stam and striker
Franco Di Santo - all key players this season - are all out of
contract, and the Latics have not agreed new deals with any of them.
Figueroa
is wanted by West Ham, Paraguayan Alcaraz is looking for a club in
Spain and Di Santo appears to be heading for Italy, with Bologna keen.
On top of all that, Martinez is under mounting pressure to keep midfielder McCarthy and striker Kone - two of his best players.
McCarthy
is a target for Tottenham and Newcastle, with Wigan wanting £14 m-plus
for the Republic of Ireland starlet, while Kone has a fixed-fee price of
£6.5m on his head.
If he stays, Martinez could be left with a
nucleus of around a dozen senior players - half of what he'd need for a
campaign that could see them playing three games a week more often that
not.
Martinez has admitted he needs six extra players because of
the challenge of playing in both the Europa League and the Championship,
and that Europe would be a ‘distraction’ in a season when his team’s
league games will go up from 38 to 46.
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