Wigan Athletic boss makes 'squad strength' claim after busier-than-expected window

Most of Latics' loan signings last summer failed to make their mark, with three - Calvin Ramsay (Liverpool), Joe Hugill (Manchester United) and Michael Olakigbe (Brentford) - returning to their parent clubs last month.

In addition, Silko Thomas saw his season-long loan from Leicester City cancelled after sustaining serious knee ligament damage against Lincoln last week.

Only Dale Taylor (Nottingham Forest) and Luke Chambers (Liverpool) would go down as complete successes - and even the latter has been sidelined since October due to a long-standing back problem.

With Thelo Aasgaard and Josh Stones also being sold to Luton Town and York City respectively – and Paul Dummett moving on to Carlisle United after completing his short-term deal - the Latics boss had to be more active than he would have liked during the window.

He brought in seven players in total - Josh Robinson (Arsenal) Joseph Hungbo (FC Nurnberg), Jon Mellish (Carlisle United) and Ronan Darcy (Crawley Town) on permanent deals, as well as Will Goodwin (Oxford United), OIllie Norburn (Blackpool) and Owen Dale (Oxford United) on loan.

Four of those were in the matchday squad against Fulham on Saturday, with three other three cup-tied, and Maloney feels his overall options have been increased hugely as a result of his mid-season wheeling and dealing.

"The squad we have now feels totally different to that which we started the season with, and I've told the lads that," he said. "To me, the squad looks a lot stronger than it was for the first four or five months of the season.

"All of the new players did well off the bench against Fulham, we needed that lift and they provided it. We've set a level of performance now that I will expect every single week. They've set the bar now, and we can't allow ourselves to drop below that."

Maloney also hailed the performance against Fulham of Maleace Asamoah, who arrived from Fleetwood Town on transfer deadline day last summer, who has been used sparingly so far, but who put in a very solid shift on the left-hand side of the attack.

"Maleace really stood up to the plate," said Maloney. "Owen hasn't played 90 minutes all season, and he hadn't been involved for a few weeks because of a knee injury at Oxford.

"Sometimes these decisions are made for you, and we didn't have another left winger to pick. But Maleace did fine, he's been working very hard and he needs to again...but that will have done him no harm at all.

Another recent ‘signing’ was winger Jonny Smith, whose two-year contract extension was announced hours after his superb goal against Fulham at the weekend.

"It was some goal, and Jonny's got that in his locker,” Maloney added. "I'd like him to score a couple more a season that are maybe more simple than that, but it was another amazing goal. He's going to be here for a bit longer, and I'm well chuffed for him.