Martinez: N'Zogbia still has a role to play
Wigan Athletic boss Roberto Martinez insists winger Charles N'Zogbia still has a big role to play at the club.
Rumours and speculation unsettled the Frenchman during the summer transfer window. He was constantly linked with moves to Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers even though Martinez said he was not for sale.
The Wigan boss now says that he wants the winger to settle down at the club and play a big role over the course of the season. N'Zogbia will have a big role if he is going to help Wigan achieve the consistency the club is looking for.
N'Zogbia has a high number of skills and assets that will make him one of the most important players at Wigan this season. However, the club will almost certainly have to fight off more bids for the player in January.
Skills and assets
N'Zogbia adds a lot of pace on the wide areas of the field for Wigan. This is very difficult to defend against because defenders always have to move backwards with backs to goal. This can cause bad errors and a chance for the winger to run inside and exploit any mistake.
His crossing and passing is as good as anyone else at Wigan. He has worked very hard at crossing the ball with a flatter trajectory and more pace. This gives strikers running into the box a much easier chance of flicking the ball in with a header.
N'Zogbia will be full of energy and ambition at the moment because he's only just made his debut for the French national team. This means there is no better time for Wigan to stick him out wide and let him be an agent of chaos for the club.
Martinez said: "It's going to go down to the day to day work. If Charles behaves in the right manner, I think fans will understand that he has been probably badly advised. He's a human being and has been a victim of the transfer window at the wrong time."
Transfer window
There were bids to sign N'Zogbia during the summer transfer window. This proves that there is clear interest in the player from more than one club. Most clubs don't drop interest in a player because they have not been able to work out a deal within a set time frame.
This means that when the January transfer window opens, the same clubs will approach Wigan again with improved bids. These may be bids that the Wigan has been looking for and they will not be in any position to stop a move.
Martinez added: "He's an extremely talented player and now it's up to him to show the other team-mates how much he wants to give something to the team to win football games. In my eyes he's a Wigan Athletic player at least until the next window and a really important player for ourselves. He got into the French national team because of his performances with Wigan Athletic."
Betting advice
N'Zogbia is one of the more attacking and creative players at Wigan and it's very important that the club has managed to keep him. He can score good goals against good teams at any time, which makes him a good player to back in any game.
He will not be able to improve Wigan's consistency on his own. However, he will give them a much better chance of winning games. Wait one or two more matches before you start laying down bets on the team because the 4-0 loss at home to Blackpool showed how inconsistent Wigan can be.
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