Leam Richardson on hopes of luring ex-Wigan Athletic colleague to Rotherham

The 25-year-old was named vice-captain on the eve of this season, but has endured a largely frustrating campaign on the pitch.

He's scored only three times in 29 appearances, and received a red card in the defeat at Stevenage at the beginning of October.

And he was left out of the biggest game of the season against Manchester United last week, only coming on as a stoppage-time substitute in the FA Cup third-round tie.

Lang's absence from the last two matches - attributed to a calf problem - has set tongues wagging about whether his future lies elsewhere.

For his part, Latics boss Shaun Maloney reiterated at the end of last week his hope Lang would be here 'for the rest of the season and beyond'.

However, Maloney also said he would listen to any player who 'was to come to me and say they either need more minutes or there was something out there that really suited them and their family more than here'.

Over in South Yorkshire, former Latics boss Richardson is desperately trying to bolster his side - who lie bottom of the Championship - for the second half of the campaign.

And inevitably the name of Lang has been thrown up as a possible 'person of interest'.

Intriguingly, Richardson did little to hose down the speculation.

"We're interested in all good players," Richardson told the Rotherham Advertiser. “He's not our player, he's Wigan's player, so you've got to respect that.

"The recruitment team is working as hard as possible to try to come up with solutions. We'll see."

League One high-flyers Portsmouth and Derby have also been linked with a move for Lang, who came through the ranks at Wigan and has 18 months remaining on his contract.

Lang has made 143 appearances for Latics in total, scoring 31 goals, and won a League One title-winners medal in 2021-22, after playing a key role in the greatest of Great Escapes the previous season during administration.