Wigan Athletic confirm swoop for ex-Premier League and international defender

The 33-year-old has been without a club since leaving Newcastle over the summer at the end of his contract.

Newcastle-born Dummett had spent the whole of his career with his hometown club, save for a couple of loan spells with Gateshead and St Mirren more than a decade ago.

He was in talks with another Premier League club, Wolverhampton Wanderers, over the summer, but was unable to reach agreement.

Although he's been a free agent, Dummett has stayed in full training at Newcastle, and is considered as close to match fit as can be under the circumstances.

And he’s been signed in time to potentially play in Saturday’s League One clash against high-flying Wycombe Wanderers – although a more likely debut could be next Tuesday's Bristol Street Motors Trophy clash against Nottingham Forest Under-21s at the Brick Community Stadium.

"Signing for Wigan Athletic is something I'm delighted to do,” he said. “It’s a club with rich history and a brilliant, young squad that I can hopefully help progress up the league during my time here.

"It's a move that has been in the works for a little while and one that had to be right for myself after being at Newcastle for such a long time. But after speaking to the gaffer, who outlined his plans and where he sees the club going in the future, I was excited to sign and hopefully bring my experience to this journey."

Dummett, who has penned an initial deal until January, will give Latics vital cover on the left-hand side of the defence, following the loss of on-loan Liverpool defender Luke Chambers for 'several months' due to a long-standing back problem.

Latics boss Shaun Maloney had confirmed during his media briefing on Wednesday afternoon he was on the look-out for short-term cover.

"The only position of concern we have is left-back," he said. "We know Luke Chambers is going to be out for a few months, and young Luke Robinson is only just back from seven months out with a knee injury.

"To be relying on Robbo as our only recognised left-back...so yeah, if there is anything out there in terms of what we could do now, it would definitely be in that position."

When asked whether that would be now or in January, Maloney replied: "Probably now...we might look to do something now, just to take some of the pressure off.

"To be relying on Robbo, immediately after a seven-month injury lay-off...Sess (Steven Sessegnon) can obviously cover there, but he's predominantly right-sided. So we might look to do something in that left-back area.

"If we don't, Sess can play there, as can Calvin Ramsay, Harry McHugh, James Carragher, and we've now got young K'Marni Miller, who's really starting to push through. But we’ll see."

Dummett made 213 appearances for Newcastle during his time in the north east, and there was even talk of him staying on for another year had the Toon managed to qualify for Europe this season.

He also won five caps for Wales between 2014-19.