Wigan Athletic chief delivers Tyrese Francois timescale - and explains Matt Smith tactical tweak

The 24-year-old midfielder joined from Fulham last week on a two-year deal, but wasn't involved in either of the two friendlies last weekend, at Chorley and Fylde.

And boss Shaun Maloney says it will be next month before he puts on a blue and white shirt for the first time.

"We won't see Tyrese this weekend," said the Latics manager. "Hopefully the weekend after when we've got two games we'll see him.

"That's the big thing about getting players in early...the sooner they come in, the quicker they're into pre-season. If they come in later, they take a bit longer to be integrated.

"But we've signed Tyrese for two years, and if we have to take two weeks to get him ready, that's what we'll do. He's a really good player, unbelievably tenacious without the ball.

"I spoke to Marco at Fulham about him, and he gave him a massive reference in terms of his personality about the place.

"I think some people might be surprised when they see him, because you look at his stature and he's massively aggressive without the ball."

Fulham has been a decent source of talent for Latics in the last 12 months, with Steven Sessegnon joining last summer and Martial Godo enjoying a very successful season on loan.

Not that all the gratitude should be one way, according to Maloney.

"We've done all right for Marco as well with Martial," he laughed. "If he wants to send him back then that will be okay…

"But he's a good man, and we appreciate his support."

Latics host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday in their only pre-season friendly on home soil.

"It's a great game for us, I like playing teams in a higher division," said Maloney. "Last summer it was Everton, a club for whom I have a massive soft spot for what they did for us this time last year.

"I loved the Manchester United game in the FA Cup, and it's definitely an ambition for this season...can we get another tie against a team from a higher division in one of the cups. Maybe this year we'll beat them..."

Maloney will once again use the game to try out some tweaks in tactics and formation, to ready the players for the challenges that lie ahead next season.

"We're trying out some new things, some different things tactically, depending on what the opponent does," he added. "What I found last year was that when teams really try to go after us, we have to have different options in terms of how we deal with that.

"Matt Smith has been dropping into a back three, a full-back dropping into a back three, there's loads of different things we can do. It's just different ways of trying to beat a team's press, and it all depends on our players..and getting them into the right positions to make the most of their talent."