Wigan Athletic are fighting for their lives to stay in the Championship for the second successive time as they sit barely outside the relegation zone after a marvellous recent run of results.

The Latics arrived back in the Championship for the 2018/19 season and were immediately placed as one of the top candidates to ace the drop back to League One, but survived in dramatic fashion late in the campaign, to maintain their status for the 2019/20 season.

It looked bleak for Wigan after the New Year as form dipped and saw them plunder deep into the relegation scrap, but a stunning run of results in February and early March has lifted them out of the bottom three, leaving them with a great chance of clinching their safety.

Wins away to Leeds United and West Brom coupled with them picking up points elsewhere have lifted them to 20th in the table and two points clear.

The January transfer window saw Wigan capture a lot of the attention late on deadline day oth their departures the main talking-points, as Josh Windass departed for Sheffield Wednesday and Antonee Robinson came to within moments of signing for European giants AC Milan, before an irregularity in his medical scuppered the move deep into deadline day.

However, in terms of incomings, Wigan managed to bring a few decent names in, whilst dodging a bullet or two.

Here, we take a look at two Latics transfer links that were best avoided…

Jordan Rhodes

The Scottish international has had a rotten time at Sheffield Wednesday since joining in 2017 from Middlesbrough, suffering from a number of injuries that have stopped him from gaining any sort of momentum at Hillsborough.

A potential loan move to the DW Stadium was on the cards in January as Garry Monk didn’t see much in the way of game time for the expensive Wednesday acquisition.

Paul Cook was keen to add firepower to his squad as Windass’ future looked sealed the other way, and turned to Rhodes as an option, according to Wigan Today.

While there is no doubting his pedigree in the Championship, the Latics have definitely done the right thing here to swerve the signing of Rhodes, given his wage demands and lack of form. Also, Kieffer Moore’s exceptional form in front of goal has eased the need for more goals in the squad.

Can you name these former Wigan defenders?

Joe Gelhardt’s departure

The talented teenager is building a name for himself in the youth system at Wigan and it’s not a surprise.

Big hitters in the Premier League such as Everton are interested in swooping for the youngster, according to the Sun.

While they would be able to cash in on a player that has undoubted potential, it would be an extremely foolish move from the Latics to allow him to leave before he has even managed to build up a head of steam in the Wigan first-team setup.

They have a player whose value will only continue to increase as the months go by, so they are best holding off until they can either get some big bucks for him, or see him as a crucial first-team player.

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