Wigan Athletic massively hit the jackpot with £2.5m star and these 5 others | OneFootball

Football League World looks at six signings who were highly successful additions for Wigan Athletic

Wigan Athletic have endured a mixed history over the last 20 years, having spent eight years in the Premier League before winning the FA Cup during the same season they faced relegation back to the Championship.

The Latics were rewarded for their 2013 FA Cup triumph with a Europa League campaign the following year, and found themselves in a unique situation as they competed in both the European competition and the second tier.

Unfortunately for the Greater Manchester outfit, relegation to League One followed in 2015, although they managed to bounce straight back to the Championship with a third-tier title win.

The Latics would fail to establish themselves in the Championship but enjoyed further League One title successes in both 2018 and 2022, either side of the club's period in administration from July 2020 until the spring of 2021.

Wigan also found themselves subject to an HMRC winding-up petition following relegation from the Championship in 2023 but are now financially secure under the ownership of Mike Danson.

While the club have endured a wide variety of ups and downs, Football League World takes a look at six memorable signings the Latics have made over the past two decades.

Victor Moses

Victor Moses may be best well known for the instrumental role he played in Chelsea's 2016/17 Premier League title-winning exploits, once then-Blues boss Antonio Conte converted him into a wing-back.

But before the Nigeria international made his big move to Stamford Bridge, he showed off his admirable pace and trickery while plying his trade as an attacker for the Latics, during the club's top-flight days.

The Tics signed him in a deal worth £2.5m from Crystal Palace in January 2010, and he did not disappoint before he joined Chelsea for a fee of around £9m.

And Moses did not only help the Latics turn over a big profit, but he was also a talented player who scored six goals as well as creating five assists during a 2011/12 season in which the Greater Manchester outfit pulled off a great escape and avoided relegation from the Premier League.

Charles N'Zogbia

Charles N'Zogbia joined the Latics from Newcastle United in 2009 and lit up the Brick Community Stadium before leaving for Aston Villa in 2011.

His wizardry on the ball earned him two caps for the France national team while he was with Wigan, while the Latics faithful will never forget his exploits in Greater Manchester.

During the 2010/11 Premier League campaign, he notched nine goals and seven assists, but his decent numbers do not tell the whole story of a player who went down in Tics folklore.

N'Zogbia scored a 91st-minute screamer as the Latics came back from 2-0 down to defeat Arsenal 3-2 in April 2010, to seal one of the most unlikely comebacks seen in the Premier League era.

He also scored a brace during a 3-2 win for the Latics in May 2011 against West Ham United, who had held a 2-0 lead at half-time thanks to a Demba Ba brace.

At this point, it would have been the end of the Premier League road for the North West side, but up stepped N'Zogbia as a second-half substitute, who first got his side back into the match by scoring a free-kick, before he scored the winner in the dying embers of the game, which relegated the Hammers, but ensured that the Tics would live to fight another day, and they did go on to avoid the drop on this occasion.

Ben Watson

It would be impossible to compile a list of six of Wigan's greatest-ever signings and not include Ben Watson, who scored a 91st-minute winner to win the 2013 FA Cup final for his side against Manchester City.

It was a heroic header from Watson, whose effort flew away from the grasp of then-England number-one goalkeeper Joe Hart, and into the back of the net in front of the delirious Latics faithful.

His admirable work ethic while with the Latics was epitomised by the fact that he broke his leg during a Premier League defeat to Liverpool in November 2012, but worked hard to ensure he would be fit enough to feature in the FA Cup final, and eventually ended up scoring the winner.

As well as his cup-clinching exploits, he also featured in five top-flight campaigns, and two Championship seasons for the Brick Community Stadium outfit, and scored in the Europa League in 2013, further cementing his legendary status.

Reece James

Given the fact that the Latics have been a Football League outfit for over 10 years since their drop from the Premier League, it would be wrong not to include some of their Championship and League One greats in this somewhat illustrious list.

Reece James is arguably the greatest loan signing Wigan have ever made, having arrived from Chelsea ahead of the 2018/19 second-tier season.

Just months prior to James' arrival, the Tics had clinched promotion from League One to the second tier and were in need of adding quality to their ranks ahead of a potentially testing Championship season.

The Chelsea youngster added bags of quality to Paul Cook's side and impressed throughout the campaign as both a right-back and a central midfielder courtesy of his impressive technical ability.

Latics supporters will not have been surprised one bit to see James go on to win the Champions League with the Blues and represent England at Euro 2020.

Will Grigg

Former Latics hero Will Grigg is one of the greatest strikers League One has seen in modern times, thanks to his exploits with the Greater Manchester outfit.

He scored 28 goals in 43 appearances across all competitions during the 2015/16 season, in which the Tics clinched the third-tier title, and was deservedly included in Northern Ireland's Euro 2016 squad.

He ultimately struggled to make his mark in the Championship during the subsequent campaign as Wigan faced immediate relegation back to League One.

But upon his return to the third tier, he reignited his prolific form and produced a return of 19 goals and four assists in 43 league outings, as the Latics clinched their second League One title in three years.

Perhaps more impressively though, he scored goals against Premier League opponents Bournemouth, West Ham, and Man City as the Tics reached the 2018 FA Cup quarter-finals.

In fact, Grigg was the top goalscorer during the 2017/18 FA Cup campaign, with a remarkable return of seven goals in eight outings. On fire.

Nick Powell

Similarly to Grigg, Nick Powell was instrumental towards the Latics' 2018 League One title-winning exploits, after joining the club for a second stint on a free transfer in 2016.

But unlike the Northern Irishman, he also proved his worth in the Championship, including while on a loan spell from then-parent club Manchester United during the 2013/14 season.

Powell memorably scored three goals in six Europa League outings for the Latics that season, but it was during his permanent stay that he really showed his class.

He notched 15 goals and six assists in 39 third-tier outings, helping the Tics to the 2018 League One title, before he then produced a return of eight goals and six assists as Cook's side maintained their Championship status at the end of a solid 2018/19 season.