Martinez set to become new Wigan boss

Roberto Martinez is set to become the new manager of Wigan after the Premier League club reached an agreement with his current club Swansea on the terms of his release.

Wigan owner Dave Whelan confirmed Thursday that he had agreed to pay the Championship club around two million pounds in compensation and voiced confidence that he could quickly wrap up negotiations on Martinez’s personal terms.

The 35-year-old Martinez is a former Wigan player who has established a reputation as an astute manager after guiding Swansea to the League One title and then within two places of the Championship play-offs in successive seasons.

“Roberto played good football and I’ve followed his career go on and on,” Whelan said Thursday. “His players play football from back to front, I like what I see and I am really excited Roberto is coming back to Wigan.

“Compensation was something we had to agree, that is only fair and right. We did that with Birmingham and we have now agreed with the chairman of Swansea.

“Hopefully things will be sorted out and contracts signed by tomorrow morning.”

Martinez had also been linked to the managerial vacancy at Celtic but Swansea had refused the Scottish club permission to talk to him without a prior agreement on compensation.

The new manager will succeed Steve Bruce, who guided Wigan to 11th place in the Premier League but opted for a move to Sunderland after growing frustrated with the financial constraints that resulted in key players including Wilson Palacios and Emile Heskey being sold.

Antonio Valencia is expected to follow those two out of the JJB Stadium this summer but Martinez has been promised some funds for rebuilding.

“We are not the biggest club but we will talk and we have the money we require to replace players,” Whelan said.

“Roberto will be getting the funds that we can afford to replace the players we need.”