Coventry City transfer with Wigan Athletic looked good on paper - but one Ryan Lowe trait could impact it | OneFootball

Raphael Borges Rodrigues signed for Wigan on loan on transfer deadline day, but there are questions to answer over how Ryan Lowe might use the winger.

Wigan Athletic completed one impressive loan signing on transfer deadline day, but there is one Ryan Lowe trademark which begs the question of what they'll do with the player concerned.

With two wins, two draws, and two defeats in their opening six league matches, it's been an inconsistent start to 2025-26 for Wigan Athletic. Following two mid-table finishes following their 2023 relegation from the Championship, they'll be hoping for better, this time around.

On transfer deadline day, one particular signing caught the eye. 21-year-old winger Raphael Borges Rodrigues has arrived on loan from Coventry City on loan. Rodrigues is a talented young player and going to Wigan to, it will be hoped, get some game time, can do him the world of good after struggling to feature during his debut season at the CBS Arena.

But whether this is a good move for Wigan is another question, because manager Ryan Lowe has his way of playing the game, and it might not even accommodate his normal position, and this makes you wonder what Lowe is going to do with him, and whether this club is a good fit for his loan after all.

Coventry City's Raphael Borges Rodrigues may not fit into Ryan Lowe's Wigan Athletic system

The key question that Ryan Lowe has to answer when it comes to Raphael Borges Rodrigues is actually what to do with him. Rodrigues is versatile in one specific way; he's a winger who can play on the left or the right. But he's also fundamentally an attacking player.

But Lowe doesn't play a system with orthodox, out-and-out wingers with Wigan Athletic.

He uses wing-backs, and the modern wing-back is a more rounded position than this, covering defence, midfield, and attack, while the more traditional winger is more of a straightforward attacking position.

Versatile wide-duo Fraser Murray and Joseph Hungo have been Lowe's favoured wing-back pairing to date this term — both have impressed and the fact that they were previously wingers could encourage Rodrigues, but Coventry will be keen for him to get game-time in his natural position and that may not be achievable with the Latics.

Raphael Borges Rodrigues' stats indicates what Lowe could do with him at Wigan Athletic

There isn't a lot to go on statistics-wise for Raphael Borges Rodrigues, because he hasn't really played that much senior football. Since signing for Coventry from the Australian club McArthur FC in May 2024, he's only made two appearances for the Sky Blues.

But Fotmob's attributes graphic for the winger does throw up one very interesting figure, that Rodrigues is in the 61st percentile for defensive contributions. This is also borne out by his heatmap. Again, there's not much to go on, but the Sofascore heatmap for his appearance from the bench for Coventry against QPR a couple of weeks ago (he also played against Derby, but was only on the pitch for a minute or two) - a match in which he provided the assist for Coventry's seventh goal - shows that, while he errs towards attacking positions, he's also capable of covering the whole of a flank.

It's tempting to think that making a player perform in a different tactical system is just crow-barring them in, but this might not be the case with Rodrigues. His numbers, although limited, show a player who may be capable of that more rounded wing-back position, though he'll offer attacking options too.

It's an unfamiliar position for Rodrigues, but it seems more likely that he'll be used this way than as an attacking option, which is the only realistic alternative for him. And it might well be that it impacts on his playing time at Wigan.