Latics Scotland link dismissed
Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins has rubbished reports claiming Latics have asked to be kept informed of developments regarding his star striker Jason Scotland.
The Trinidad and Tobago international has been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League after proving to be one of the deadliest marksmen outside the top flight.
His 24 goals in the Championship last term followed up a haul of 29 in his debut season at the Liberty Stadium.
And the 30-year-old former St Johnstone and Dundee United ace has been reportedly lined up by a number of clubs including Wigan and Burnley.
The Clarets were rumoured to have tabled a seven-figure bid for Scotland, with new Latics boss Roberto Martinez well aware of the player's qualities having signed him for the Swans.
However, Jenkins has denied there has been any recent dialogue with Latics – and dismissed out of hand the notion there is a pre-arranged obligation to keep Wigan updated.
"It doesn't exist," he told the Evening Post. "I would never agree to that.
"We have still had no written offer from any club for Jason Scotland, and not even verbal interest from Wigan.
"I have had no conversation from anyone at Wigan for the last four or five days. We have had interest from Burnley, but no written offer.
"Jason is back next week, and his first job will be to meet our new manager."
However, Jenkins did reveal the recent tug-of-war over Martinez and his backroom staff had not had an adverse effect on the relationship
between the two clubs.
He also admitted he would be prepared to do business with Wigan again in the future, if it was in his club's best interests.
"We would be willing to deal with anybody," he added. "But obviously our priority is what is best for our club and that's it.
"We want to keep all our best players at the club."
Martinez, meanwhile, is relishing the challenge of building a group of players he believes will be competitive in the Premier League.
The Spaniard created a highly-rated squad at Swansea on a relatively limited budget, and he accepts he will again have to cut his cloth
accordingly at Latics.
He said: "Yes we will have to be creative, and we would all love to have all the money in the world to spend, but no manager in the world ever has enough money to spend.
"We have to be quick and we have to be creative, because we can't compete with some clubs in terms of finance.
"Our job is to continue improving the squad, and it is a great challenge for me.
"We have lost a few in terms of numbers, and we need to be patient and realistic.
"We need to spread our network and make sure we find the players we need for a really competitive dressing room – and that starts now."
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Weather for Wigan
Thursday 09 February 2012
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