Jackson reveals two that got away

In all, Latics brought in a dozen new players during the summer window, with two of them – free agent Alex Bruce and Aston Villa goalkeeper Matija Sarkic on loan – arriving on deadline day.

But Jackson says the club came close to another couple of additions close to the deadline, only for the deals to fall through at the last minute.

“As ever, in the last week of the transfer window, we were discussing potential players coming in,” Jackson told the Wigan Post.

“We explored several possibilities, we had discussions with clubs and agents, and we were down the line with some transactions.

“They all came to a conclusion last Thursday night – whether that was getting them over the line or not. There were a couple of potential deals that didn’t quite happen.

“But I think it’s important to stress to the supporters that we were all working together – the manager, the recruitment team, the chairman and myself – to get things done, to improve the squad further.

“The manager’s been great in that he’ll only sign players he feels will improve the squad.

“Sometimes you get to the point where you have an agreement, and the player decides not to come, or the terms of a deal change – and those kinds of things you can’t control.

“From our point of view, it was a successful window, although there were one or two that did get away.

“They will be explored again in January, absolutely.

“We’ve also got some players potentially coming back from loan spells, we’ve got options to bring back all the players who left for the season.

“We’ll assess how the squad looks in January, and then the transfer madness will start all over again!”