Martinez: Moses is irreplaceable

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has conceded former Latics striker Victor Moses is irreplaceable but is still keeping his eye on any last-minute deals despite being happy with his transfer business.

Moses left Wigan for European Champions Chelsea in a £9million move last week, leaving Martinez to reshape his attacking line in the form of the returning Mauro Boselli, new striker Arouna Kone and Franco Di Santo.

The Wigan boss admitted Moses is a special player and knows he will struggle to find a like-for-like replacement this late in the transfer window.

“It’s a case of finding the players we want to try to improve the squad,” Martinez said.

“That’s been a case of whether we’re going to lose any players or not. We have to cope with moving players on.

“I think Victor Moses was such an influential player and such a special player for us I don’t think you can replace him with another individual.

“You probably have to replace him with another way of playing in that attacking third or find another way to get the players to fulfil his responsibilities.

“As a whole I’m really pleased with the players we’ve got but I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t keep my eyes open because sometimes in the last 48 hours you get opportunities you can’t turn down.”

Martinez completed the bulk of his transfer activity earlier in the window, bringing in defender Ivan Ramis, midfielder Fraser Fyvie, striker Kone and securing Arsenal winger Ryo Miyaichi on a season-long loan.

Despite not being linked with any players as the clock ticks down, Martinez did not rule out making any late additions.

He said: “It will be daft not to keep your eyes open because as it happens in the last two days, sometimes there are opportunities.

“But the truth is we’ve done all of our work earlier in the window and we tried to bring the players that we wanted to bring really early so we could start the season.

“We’re in a position where we’re not missing anything but you’ve got to keep your eyes open in case there is something that can help the group of players that we’ve got.

“I’m really pleased in the manner the new players have settled in and I think it’s really important that you give the new players time to be themselves and I feel we’ve done that.

“Every new signing is starting to feel at home and that’s important in any transfer window.

“We have a very well planned strategy of how we’re going to spend our money. Over the last three seasons I don’t think we’ve been working to keep money coming in to then spend it.”