Dave Whelan has never been one to keep his mouth closed when other alternatives are available and he was speaking to talkSPORT on Sunday evening about the transfer market. He feels the window should shut before the Premier League season starts and said that he won’t have time to replace any players who may leave Wigan on deadline day.
He confirmed that the club were in negotiations regarding two players and went on to say Everton had been in contact to negotiate the signing of James McCarthy. Whelan said that Wigan would not stand in the midfielder’s way and claimed that Everton had “Even talked to us in the last 2 or 3 hours.”
Everton have been linked with McCarthy for some time and Roberto Martinez seems to be keen on bringing in players he’s already worked with. Whelan said that Everton have a fixed price for the player and won’t deviate from that, so claimed that McCarthy would only be moving tomorrow if Everton paid up.
The 22 year old was born in Scotland but plays international football for the Republic of Ireland. Despite Wigan being relegated last season, McCarthy managed to impress and was linked with a move to several Premier League clubs. As the window has progressed that’s boiled down to just Everton, and Whelan didn’t mention any other club as being interested.
Buying McCarthy would make Everton more comfortable in selling Fellaini to Manchester United and the transfer could provide a domino effect with there being further rumours, also covered on talkSPORT, that Nick Powell could move to Wigan on loan.