Wigan Athletic CEO opens up on new contracts

All but five - Tom Pearce, Luke Robinson, Adam Long, Thelo Aasgaard and Callum Lang - of the squad are free agents at the end of June.

And it promises to be another summer of mass upheaval on the playing front - with Latics not even sure which division they'll even be in.

However, new chiefs executive Mal Brannigan says work is already underway regarding tying down talent for the first step of the rebuild.

"We're assessing things all the time - whether that's playing contracts, commercial opportunities - and we know there's some great challenges ahead of us," he told Wigan Today.

"We're very mindful of the fact a lot of the young talent is out of contract at the end of the season.

"Myself and Leam (Richardson) have already started those conversations about what we want to do, and obviously Gregor (Rioch) will be involved as well.

"We will start to have meaningful discussions with those players and their agents as soon as possible."

One of the priorities will of course be who leads the club into the new era, with speculation continuing to link Richardson with a reunion at Ipswich with long-time partner Paul Cook.

Latics would dearly love Richardson to stay on and continue his fine work in steering the ship through choppy waters.

But Brannigan says negotiations on that score will remain under wraps for now.

"I think Leam and his staff have done an absolutely tremendous job throughout this season," he added.

"But one thing I will generally never be open with is people's personal circumstances and terms.

"That said, given the job he's done, Leam's certainly put himself in a good position to stay here at Wigan, if indeed that is what he wants to pursue."