The visit of Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday gives TNS the opportunity to remember a player whose stay in Wigan was rather brief, but also rather memorable.  He played for the club at what is to date the height of their success and he is one of few former players who was never involved in a relegation fight!

Reto, pictured here in a Premier League encounter against Everton, was born on 16th January 1986, started his career with Grasshoppers Zurich for whom he appeared in 41 games without scoring.  His next port of call was Tottenham Hotspur and after quick fire negotiations between the Swiss club and then Spurs Director of Football Frank Arnesen, he arrived at White Hart Lane in August 2004 having originally agreed to sign the following January. 

He made his Spurs debut on 2nd October 2004 against Everton at Goodison Park, a game which the Londoners won 1-0.  He made 11+12 Premiership appearances that season, scoring once, against Everton in a 5-2 victory at White Hart Lane.

He was signed by then Latics manager Paul Jewell on 23rd January 2006 on loan until the end of the current season from Tottenham Hotspur. Latics’ Premiership rivals had re called Reto from a loan spell with SV Hamburg just days before and the Spurs boss, Martin Jol, quickly sanctioned the move to the JJB Stadium. The player himself wanted to return to the Premiership in order to boost his chances of playing for his country at the forthcoming World Cup Finals in Germany. He made his Latics debut against Arsenal the following day in the Carling Cup Semi Final, second leg game at Highbury when he came onto the field of play as a substitute in the 73rd minute. The Blues reached their first ever major final by losing the game 1-2, but winning on the away goal rule! He made 5+5 Premiership appearances for Latics without scoring and he also played in the Carling Cup Final against Manchester United. 

He returned to Spurs for the start of the following season making one more Premier League appearances as well as playing for them in the Carling Cup and the UEFA Cup, but in February 2007 he was loaned to Sampdoria for the remainder of the season.  The move was made permanent in July 2007 and he had the best spell of his career with the Italian outfit making 127 appearances and netting four times in the process. 

To date he is plying his trade withTurkish outfit Fenerbahce on loan from Juventus for whom he hasn’t made a league appearance since signing in May 2011.  He has played 26 times for Switzerland and his single goal for his country came in a friendly against Finland in 2008.

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