Out of contract Wigan trio to interest Liverpool and Aston Villa

Wigan’s odds are now a massively short 1/6 to be relegated this season and even if they do miraculously escape the drop for the second season running, it is unlikely they will be able to retain the services of Hugo Rodallega, Mohamed Diame or Maynor Figueroa.

One win in 12 games is not ideal form and chairman Dave Whelan is now demanding an explanation after describing the defeat at home to ten-man Swansea as the worst performance produced by the club in the past four years.

Being bottom of the Premier League at this stage is nothing new to Wigan, as they was in the same spot at this point of the last campaign before losing just two of their final nine games to survive on the final day.

It may not even require such a good run to beat the drop again as despite their short price to go down, Wigan are only two points from safety.

But one of the big problems facing Wigan is that three of their better players are out of contract in the summer and their focus could already be on next season, where they are almost guaranteed to be playing their football elsewhere.

Boss Roberto Martinez feels that Rodallega does have the appetite for a relegation scrap, but with Liverpool and Tottenham known to be fans of the Colombian, it must be hard to not think of the future.

A move to London would certainly appeal to Diame, who has previously described Wigan as a “crappy place” with no atmosphere, although previous interest has come from Stoke.

Meanwhile, Figueroa could appeal to Aston Villa, who may be in for a difficult summer in the transfer market with chairman Randy Lerner keen to cut costs and limit spending.