Weekly De-Brief: 2025 begins with a loss and plenty of transfer activity.
Wigan Athletic hosted Birmingham City for our first match of 2025, and have been very busy early on in the January transfer window.
After a delay in beginning our 2025 fixtures, Wigan Athletic took to the field at the Brick Community Stadium to host the powerhouse that is Birmingham City on Saturday.
Off the field, the football club has been very active in the January transfer market throughout the opening week, including the announcement of a promising Under 21s player after a successful trial period.
Unfortunately, our Women’s team was unable to play their scheduled fixture on Sunday due to the adverse weather, but they are all set to return from the winter break this coming weekend.
Let’s dive into it all and try to make some sense of it 👇🏼
Part One: Latics lose to brilliant Birmingham.
Part Two: Transfer News: In and Outs
Part Three: The weekly de-brief.
Part Four: Academy and Women’s round-up.
Part Five: Our next week.
Latics lose to brilliant Birmingham 💢
Wigan Athletic were set to play Huddersfield Town on New Year’s Day to begin our 2025 schedule. However, flooding in the local area saw the game called off and instead, we began the new year at home to 2nd-place Birmingham City.
The Blues won the reverse fixture 2-1 at St Andrews after Scott Wright’s 91st-minute winner snatched the full three points after Thelo Aasgaard’s equaliser gave the Latics hope.
Shaun Maloney made one change to his starting eleven from our meeting at Wrexham, with Jensen Weir replacing the injured Baba Adeeko. Silko Thomas was not in the matchday squad after not being able to fully take part in training throughout the week.
👕 Starting XI: Sam Tickle, Toby Sibbick, Jason Kerr ©️, Will Aimson, Steven Sessegnon, Jensen Weir, Scott Smith, Jonny Smith, Thelo Aasgaard, Michael Olakigbe, Dale Taylor
🔄 Subs: Tom Watson, James Carragher, Luke Robinson, Kai Payne, Joseph Hungbo, Callum McManaman, Joe Hugill
As far as starts to a game go, you could argue that our first 15 minutes against Birmingham City was one of the best we have seen all season from a desire and intensity standpoint.
With just three minutes on the clock, a delightful first-time ball over the top from left-back, Steven Sessegnon, found Dale Taylor running in behind the Blues’ defence. The forward nodded the ball down to Jonny Smith who could try his luck on goal. A wicked deflection almost caught Ryan Allsop off guard, but the goalkeeper did well to keep it out. 🧤
Moments later, Scott Smith’s sliced effort from the edge of the box fizzed beyond the right post, before Thelo Aasgaard saw his attempt from a loose ball in the box blocked by Klarer.
Jonny Smith then had a couple more chances from outside the box. Allsop parried the first one to his defenders and then watched the second narrowly bend around the far left post.
Then, in the 19th minute, Alfie May put Birmingham City 1-0 ahead. ⚽️
Willum Willumsson took a corner from the left side which Sam Tickle palmed away to the edge of the area. Tomoki Iwata picked up the loose ball and fed it back to Willumsson on our left side. His cross was cleared out by Aasgaard which Willumsson could then feed in again. Sessegnon and Jonny Smith cleared this ball, but right-back Ethan Laird then whipped a ball into the box which Tickle could only parry into the path of an unmarked Alfie May.
While the Blues’ relentlessness was impressive to watch, the Latics had plenty of opportunities to prevent this goal and didn’t take any of them well enough. In this move pictured above, Sessegnon has to do better at stopping the cross from Laird, and Will Aimson seemingly gave up in his pursuit of keeping goalside of May. You simply cannot afford that much time and space to last season’s League One Top Scorer. 🤷♂️
On the half-hour mark, the goalscorer doubled our visitor’s lead after an excellent Paik Seung-Ho pass from midfield to begin the attack. The South Korean midfielder is one of the best we have seen in League One for a very long time and Wigan were quickly met with the consequence of not man-marking him out of the game. In fairness, not much you could do with that pass.
Wigan almost clawed a goal back after Michael Olakigbe hit the post in the 33rd minute. The chance started with a lovely ball from Aasgaard as he switched the play from left to right to find Jonny Smith. The winger pulled it back to Toby Sibbick for a delivery into the box, which fell to the Brentford loanee on the left side of the penalty box. His attempt bounced off Allsop’s near post.
At the halftime break, the Blues went into the changing rooms 2-0 up. ⏸️
In the early stages of the second half, neither side had any clear-cut chances and you would see that the Latics were struggling to ask the Blues’ defence any questions.
However, just after the hour mark, Birmingham extended their lead to three goals after another excellent pass in the build-up from Paik Seung-Ho to find Ethan Laird. The right-back had plenty of time to take the ball under control and run it to the box, with his low cross uncontested to find Willumsson. ⚽️
At this stage of the game, while disappointed at what the scoreline read, I could not help but sit there and think ‘What were Latics meant to have done against this Birmingham squad?’. They were well-drilled, disciplined, and most importantly, clinical. Yes, money can buy the players, but their mindset and game plan were excellent. We simply could not compete, just like the majority of sides in the division have found this season.
With 20 minutes to go, Shaun Maloney handed a Wigan Athletic debut to new-signing, Joseph Hungbo. The winger replaced Michael Olakigbe and spent time both on the left wing and right wing for the final stages. Hungbo looked lively in spells but almost played Birmingham in for a fourth with a poor backpass to release Lyndon Dykes into our area. Thankfully, Tickle could hold on to the ball.
The game ended 3-0 in Birmingham City's favour, and I am glad we do not have to see them again this season. In fact, I doubt we will see them again next season, as they have all the quality to secure an instant return to the Championship. All the best, Blues.
Transfer News: Ins and Outs 🗞️
Since the January transfer window opened, Wigan Athletic have been busy welcoming new players to the football club, selling an exciting Academy graduate, and ending a loan spell for a Premier League youngster.
Let’s take a look at what has happened over the last week 👇
Calvin Ramsay - Returned to Liverpool after a loan spell ↩️
After 20-year-old right back Josh Robinson was signed on a three-and-a-half-year contract last week, Liverpool cut Calvin Ramsay’s loan spell short after picking up just eight League One appearances.
The young right-back joined Latics on June 5th 2024 and departed from his season-long loan on January 2nd 2025.
In my opinion, it makes sense for Ramsay to return to Liverpool so that they can reassess his situation and find a club that will suit him for the remainder of the campaign. The development he and Liverpool are looking for would not have been found in Shaun Maloney’s squad in the remainder of the season.
Joseph Hungbo - Signed from FC Nürnburg 📝
Wigan Athletic signed another player on a three-and-a-half-year contract, with FC Nürnburg winger, Joseph Hungbo, joining the club after his loan spell at Rotherham United was cut short by his parent club.
The former Watford, Huddersfield Town, and Rotherham United winger knows the EFL second and third tiers well and is a welcomed addition to our squad.
Hungbo made his debut for the Latics on Saturday in our home fixture against Birmingham City. The winger showed his pace and tenacity and I look forward to seeing more of him.
Josh Stones - Joins York City on a permanent transfer 🤝
Our first sale of the winter window saw Josh Stones depart the club to join York City in the National League. The fee is reported to be in the region of £350,000, which would be one of the highest incoming transfer deals ever for the fifth tier.
The 21-year-old returned to the Latics just days before the transfer was announced after his short-term loan at Oldham Athletic ended.
While I certainly did not want to see Stones leave the club, he has clearly been thriving at National League level and now joins York City who are top of the division and look like favourites for promotion to League Two.
Will Goodwin - Signed from Oxford United on loan 📝
Wigan Athletic announced that forward, Will Goodwin, has signed on loan from Oxford United for the remainder of the campaign.
The 22-year-old has struggled for consistent game time in the Championship after winning promotion with the U’s last season.
Goodwin has experience playing as a sole frontman, half of a partnership, or as a wide forward cutting in from the wings. This will suit Maloney as Latics’ attacks are largely built from wing play.
As it stands, all three of Maloney’s centre-forward options are on loan at the football club and will depart in the Summer.
Tobias Brenan - Signed a contract with our Under 21s 📝
Wigan Athletic have signed 18-year-old midfielder, Tobias Brenan, to our Under 21s squad for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign.
The youngster was previously playing for Oxford United U18s and spent time on loan with Didcot Town, but has made the move to the Latics after a successful trial period.
Brenan has been involved with our Under 21s since the start of the season and has contributed to three goals in thirteen appearances so far.
“Tobias is an energetic midfielder who will get forward into attacking positions and show his ability in the final third within goal involvements.
He can compete and win one-on-one duels, whilst also having the ability to start counterattacks.”
Chris Brown | Wigan Athletic U21s Manager
The weekly de-brief 🤔
When the January transfer window opened, I was expecting - or rather hoping - to see the Latics make an early move to secure a new player or two, but I did not expect to see this much action so early on.
However, the early movement is definitely welcomed and hopefully, we can see more activity over the next few weeks to strengthen our squad for the remaining months.
This week’s rumour mill has suggested that Luke Robinson could be heading out on loan to a Scottish Premiership or another EFL club. The 23-year-old left-back has struggled for regular game time at the Latics since being depended on so heavily in the 2020/21 season.
A previous loan spell at St Johnstone has shown that Robinson can be a regular starter at another club, and his situation is one that I am monitoring closely to see if there is any movement. 🔎
Paul Dummett is another left-back who could be departing the club soon as his short-term contract is set to expire in January, although an exact date is unknown at this time. Luke Chambers has suggested that he will be back in training soon, and his return could see Dummett surplus to requirements unless he takes up a coaching role.
With Josh Stones leaving the club on a permanent deal, and the signing of Will Goodwin on loan from Oxford United, Maloney is now left with three centre-forwards who are all on loan at the club.
I believe that a permanent ‘Number 9’ has been targetted and is still being looked at, but there is some difficulty getting the deal over the line. This is one to watch over the next week, but the longer the saga goes on could make the move less likely to happen. ⏳
One area that the football club are looking to strengthen is our midfield after Baba Adeeko and Tyrese Francois have been ruled out until March at the earliest, with Matt Smith out until at least April.
Whether we bring in a short-term loan until the end of the season, or look to recruit a player on a permanent is unknown at this point, but all options are being explored as this is a position that needs sorting sooner rather than later.
While there is plenty of off-field speculation circulating the ‘Twittersphere’ at the moment, the squad that we currently have is hard at work preparing for our FA Cup Third Round tie away at Mansfield Town. 🏆
The Stags were victorious in our meeting at the Brick Community Stadium on October 22nd, and Shaun Maloney is desperate not only for revenge but also to secure our name in the hat for the fourth round.
I will have a full match preview published on Thursday 9th January, so be sure to subscribe and be notified when it is live. 👇
Academy and Women’s round-up 🔵
Wigan Athletic Under 18s have been out of action since December 14th but will return to the field on January 11th away at Barnsley U18s.
Wigan Athletic Under 21s have been out of action since December 9th but will return to the field on January 14th away at Barnsley U21s.
Wigan Athletic Women were set to host Lostock St Gerards at the Robin Park Arena on Sunday 5th January. However, adverse weather conditions caused the game to be called off due to unplayable conditions.
The next scheduled game is on Sunday 12th January away at Chipping FC. The Latics won the reverse fixture 6-0 on October 6th, with Avagrace Hodson scoring a hattrick and goals from Ellie Cleary and Laura Heslip after an early own goal.
Our next week 🗓️
Saturday 11th January | Mansfield Town vs Wigan Athletic | FA Cup Third Round
Saturday 11th January | Barnsley U18s vs Wigan Athletic U18s | U18 Professional Development League
Sunday 12th January | Chipping FC vs Wigan Athletic Women | FA Lancashire Women’s County Championship League (Tier 7)
Tuesday 14th January | Barnsley U21s vs Wigan Athletic U21s | U21 Professional Development League
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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