Reece James to lead out Wigan Athletic on swansong

The 19-year-old will conplete his season-long loan from Chelsea on Sunday against Millwall at the DW Stadium.

And with club captain Sam Morsy sitting out the game to avoid one more booking – which would trigger a three-game ban next season – boss Paul Cook admits there was only one choice to be handed the armband.

“Reece will captain the team on Sunday, and that’s a fitting way to end his time here,” Cook revealed.

“If everything goes according to plan we’ll probably bring him off in the latter stages to get the ovation he thoroughly deserves.

“Around that, we’ll probably pick the strongest team we can for Sunday.

“We’d love to go out on a win, we’ve got a strong unbeaten record that we’d like to keep going.”

Teenagers Joe Gelhardt and Jensen Weir, who made their league debuts at Birmingham last weekend, are away in Ireland with the England squad for the Under-17s Euros.

But there will still be representation from the club’s all-conquering Under-18s side that completed a ‘treble’ this week.

“Charlie Jolley missed out on the bench last weekend, but he will probably be the only one involved on Sunday,” added Cook.

“Hopefully we’ll see him on the pitch at some point, and it will be as special a moment as when the kids appeared last week.

“And it’s probably not correct to call them ‘kids’ – because they’re very good players in their own right!”