Kone the first to look for the exit door

Relegated squads can often symbolise the Mary Celeste by the time the transfer window has shut – given the now inevitable mass exoduses that can occur. For Wigan they have done fairly well up to now in this respect, with rumours regarding the any potential exits from their talented squad fairly minimal.

What is even more encouraging that despite the exit of Roberto Martinez there has been next to no mutterings of players wanting to follow him out of the exit door. That was until Arouna Kone opened his mouth and stated his desire to force through a move away – with ESPN Soccernet indicating the player wants to leave the club.

Kone who only joined Wigan last year was always likely to generate a significant amount of interest, given his impressive performances which included a contribution of 12 premier league strikes. The 29 year old might have become a firm favourite with the Wigan faithful, however his claims that he has no desire to be playing football in the second tier will hardly go down well.

The Ivory Coast man indicates that he has visions of playing for one of the biggest sides in England and that he has had several offers – although he does stress he would not name any of these clubs. That said, Kone later goes on to showcase his lack of ability for keeping a secret, outlining that Crystal Palace are now a Premier League club. Now he might just be stating the obvious but this would suggest a move to London could be one of these offers.

For Palace this would prove a significant coup, given that you would think a large number of clubs outside the top six would be interested in his services. In regards to Kone a move to Palace might be ill advised with them being relegation favourites – meaning he would again find himself in the apparently dreadful position of potentially playing second tier football.

Owen Coyle more than likely would have expected one or two to look for a move away and Kone would have been near the top of that list given his talents and the short time he has spent at the DW. So with that in mind the new manager will not be losing to much sleep over Kone’s stance – he will however hope that others do not follow his lead.