Why Will was so Keane to extend Wigan Athletic stay

The former Manchester United forward, who turned 28 on Monday, was out of contract after his short-term deal expired last weekend.

Despite interest from home and abroad, Keane has elected to remain with Latics for the rest of the campaign.

And after scoring five goals in his last nine matches, he’s adamant there’s plenty more to come.

“I’ve really enjoyed the last three months or so here,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting fitter., and I’m enjoying the games and contributing to the team.

“I just want to keep that going and get that full season under my belt and help the team climb the table.

“It’s a real good group of lads and we have a good mix of youth and the experienced players. All the young lads we have seen are really hungry and desperate to do well.

“They have the right mentality, they’re all professional and it’s a good environment to be around.”

Latics travel to Rochdale this weekend for their first clash if 2021, after the trip to Swindon was postponed due to a frozen pitch and the fixtures against Wimbledon and Hull fell foul of Covid in the camp.

And Latics are aiming to pick up where they left off – the 4-3 victory at Burton in their last outing on December 29, when Keane grabbed a late winner to add the icing to Kyle Joseph's brilliant hat-trick.

“It’s given lads a bit of a breather and freshened us up a bit,” acknowledged Keane.

“After the Burton result, you want to kick on from there with the momentum so it’s been a bit frustrating.

“But Christmas was a busy period, so the lads are just raring to go again and hopefully we can kick on.”

Leam Richardson’s men are also hoping to avenge a 5-0 spanking by ‘Dale at the DW last month – their only defeat in the last six matches which have yielded three wins.

“It wasn’t that long ago we played Rochdale so it’s still fresh in the mind,” Keane added.

“We need to focus on ourselves and I feel, if we take our game-plan to them and do what we’re capable of, there is no reason why we can’t get a positive result.

“It was really disappointing last time, so this time we want to put that right.

“I think we have been playing some really nice stuff of late, and that’s down to Leam.

“Tactically he’s really drilling what he wants from the team and I think we have seen that getting the rewards.

“It is a work in progress but we keep building and there have been good signs.”

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