As I mentioned in recent post “Rosler’s loan signings can make a difference” Latics’ recent loan signings have been greeted with less than universal approval from fans.
Of the four loanees it is the signing of 24 year old Martyn Waghorn from Leicester City that is the most controversial. Why would Uwe Rosler want to sign a player from a rival club who has been sent out on loan although his contract expires in summer?
Is Waghorn capable of being a success at Wigan, given his inauspicious record at Leicester?
In perusing the fan’s forum on the Leicester City fansite http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/ we came across this fascinating piece from a certain Mark_w.
It is with kind permission of the Foxes Talk site that we are publishing it below.
Mark’s article gives us a glimpse of what Waghorn has achieved in the past and his potential for the future.
For the benefit of lurking Wigan fans (I ventured over to their forum and some have decided he’s rubbish based on posts in here and his goal scoring record so) I’m going to repeat what I’ve been saying for the last few years. Feel free to skip it.
Martyn Waghorn did a very good job during his loan spell at the club, in the Championship. Injury and misuse (being played on the wing when he isn’t a winger) has prevented him from performing to the level we saw during his loan spell. However his performances in the run of around ten games he had for us last year and the reception from the Millwall fans on their forum after his loan spell would suggest that he is very capable of recapturing that form.
It’s not going to be for us because this season Jamie Vardy has proven that he offers as much as in terms of work rate with a superior goal scoring record and with Nugent and Wood as well, it’s pretty clear that Waghorn isn’t going to get a look in and it would be a very silly decision on his part to sign a new contract with the club.
His commitment and passion for football rather than his ability are the reason he’s revered by a surprisingly large number of Leicester fans, myself included. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of becoming a very good footballer. If he is given a prolonged run as a striker by a team in the Championship, for the first time since his loan spell, then there’s every chance that he can perform to level he did during his loan spell and at the age of 24 there’s still plenty of time for him to develop and improve.
Unfairly written off by some of our fans, I imagine because of impatience, an inability to recognize that he simply hasn’t started enough games to make the same impact he did while on loan (fewer starts since signing permanently than he made during his loan spell and those have been in short bursts rather than one prolonged run) and increased expectation because we pretty clearly paid way too much for him.
Will be an incredible free signing for anyone who takes him on in the summer and gives him game time, if he gets that I’m sure we will see the Waggy of old, I think we’ll be at a level where we won’t need to kick ourselves about it, but if he does succeed elsewhere then I’m sure that many people will be saddened that circumstances have conspired against him time and time again since he signed permanently.
I really hope he gets his career back on track and is given the opportunity to show to those who have written him off that he is capable of once again reaching the level he was at three years ago and there’s no reason he can’t surpass it in the future. Good luck to him, clearly cares about playing football and gave me a lot of great memories during what was probably my favourite season supporting Leicester City until this year (I’m young).
If Pearson hadn’t left and we had still been able to sign him then I’m sure things would have been very different, I’m delighted that we’ve got Pearson back and are on the up again. Hope that the same can happen for Waggy on loan at Wigan and in the future, hopefully at a club that isn’t Millwall.
Not the greatest player to play for Leicester City during my life time but easily one of the most likeable.
Thanks to JJ of http://threeamigoswigan.com/ for this post.
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