Wigan Athletic weighing up move for striker who once cost Aston Villa £12m | OneFootball

Wigan are looking to strengthen following a poor start, but there's no particular rush over one particular striker who's been training with them.

Wigan Athletic may need to strengthen their squad following a poor start to their League One season, but in the case of one player who's been training with them, the end of the transfer window doesn't mean that his signing can't take place.

Wigan Athletic head for Wimbledon seeking a kick-start to their 2026-27 League One season following two successive defeats. Losses against Cambridge United and Leyton Orient sent them spiralling to the bottom of the table heading into the August Bank Holiday Weekend, but a match against a team who've had a slow start gives them an opportunity to get some much-needed points on the board.

The transfer window is due to close at 11pm on September 1, which means that there isn't that long for clubs to make the vast majority of changes that they need to make for this season. But the transfer window doesn't apply to all players, and one out-of-contract star formerly with Aston Villa and Birmingham City is amongst them.

Scott Hogan was released by MK Dons at the end of the 2025-26 season. The 34-year-old striker is highly experienced, and in 2017 Aston Villa were persuaded to pay Brentford £12 million for him, but having been without a club since the summer, Hogan is not impacted by the transfer window, and this means that Wigan may not make a final decision over him until after that deadline.

Scott Hogan may be taken on by Wigan Athletic, but it might not be by the 1st September

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Reporting on his Patreon on Sunday morning, journalist Alan Nixon confirmed that Scott Hogan has been training with Wigan Athletic since his departure from MK Dons at the end of the 2025-26 season.

He confirms that the striker has been training with Wigan for a month, but that he hasn't yet been offered a contract by the League One outfit, but also adds that there may not be any immediate hurry for the Latics to make a decision over him.

Since Hogan is not contracted to anybody, so the ordinary rules of the transfer window do not apply to him, meaning that Wigan can still register him to play for them after this deadline expires.

And he reports that the club seem prepared to take full advantage of this. Nixon writes that Wigan also have other "major targets", and that Hogan may be of greater interest to them after the transfer window closes, in the event that they fail to land any of those.

What Wigan Athletic fans are saying on social media about Scott Hogan

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Scott Hogan's potential signing by Wigan Athletic has prompted a lot of comment on social media, and not all of it has been positive. Here's a sample of what's being said about the striker potentially signing for the Latics.

This fan is concerned that his club are looking at out-of-contract players while they've brought money in from player sales over the summer.

And this fan is concerned by Hogan's goalscoring record last season in League Two with MK Dons.

This Wigan fan was slightly concerned by the striker's age.

And this fan was prepared to go to some pretty drastic lengths if Wigan had announced him as a new signing a little earlier in August:

Scott Hogan's experience could be beneficial to Wigan, following a slow start to their League One season

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The raw statistics for Scott Hogan's 2025-26 season with MK Dons might give Wigan Athletic supporters cause for concern, but Hogan was largely used as a substitute last season as they won promotion back to League One.

And Hogan's signature could benefit his new club. Not every new player needs to be a starter, and the striker's vast experience could have a positive impact upon his next club, regardless of whether he's playing every week or not.

With 12 international caps and having played in the Championship for thirteen seasons, he has a lot of experience to fall back upon. He was plucked from the lower divisions by Brentford, when they signed him from Rochdale in 2014. Prior to that, the player had started his career in the non-league game.

​​​​​​But it was his signature by Aston Villa at the end of the January 2017 transfer window which really raised his profile. They paid £12 million for his services in 2017 as they sought a return to the Premier League, but the signing didn't work out, and he was sent on loan to Sheffield United and Stoke City before signing for Birmingham City in 2020.

Hogan hit double-figures twice for Birmingham in four years before his 2024 move to MK Dons, and those who mention his unremarkable record in Buckinghamshire throughout 2025-26 are overlooking the fact that he netted eight times for them in the league in 33 appearances during the 2024-25 season.

Wigan have other transfer targets including Harry Ashfield of Wrexham, as exclusively revealed by Football League WorldWigan Athletic should their other inquiries come to nothing.