Championship strugglers Wigan Athletic have failed in their initial attempts to land Hibernian striker Kevin Nisbet, with a bid being turned down for the 25-year-old's services.

That is according to a report from The Scotsman, who claim that new Latics boss Shaun Maloney wants to re-united with the forward having managed the Edinburgh outfit for a short period of time in the 2021-22 campaign.

Nisbet scored just once in 10 league outings for Maloney before his season was ended by a serious knee injury, but he has returned with a vengeance in the current campaign by scoring eight times in seven Scottish Premiership matches since his December comeback.

It looked as though the 10-cap Scotland international was heading to Wigan's divisional rivals Millwall last week, with a fee of around £2.4 million agreed to take the attacker to The Den.

However, Nisbet pulled out of the deal despite heading to London for a medical, and following that he returned to the Hibs squad and scored in their 6-0 demolition of Aberdeen this past weekend.

Hibs are now reluctant to go through with the potential sale of Nisbet this close to the transfer deadline according to the report, but Wigan are now said to be 'mulling' over a follow-up bid.

The Verdict

If Nisbet wasn't so sure on the move to a play-off contender in Millwall, then it is highly unlikely that Wigan would be successful should they offer enough money for his services.

The Lions did look to be a good fit for Nisbet, but he ended up turning them down with the official line being he would've rather stayed at Hibs for the time being.

So, to then potentially head to a relegation-threatened side in the same division would be a real step backwards, hence why it's hard to see anything happening.

It does show Wigan's intent though to add a striker for decent money before the transfer window closes, although they may have left it too late in the day at this point.