Town striker Joe Garner has joined Wigan Athletic from the Blues for a fee of £1.25 million with the deal going through moments before the 5pm deadline. TWTD was first to break the news that the Latics had joined Bolton in targeting the 30-year-old earlier this afternoon.
In addition to the fee, the deal also includes top-up clauses, while the frontman has signed a two-year contract at Wigan.
"It’s a great club to be at and I’m excited to be here after speaking to the manager about his ideas, so I’m looking forward to getting out there and helping the lads out,” Garner told iFollow Latics.
"I know how he likes his teams to play and have watched them for quite a few years. He plays attractive football and the result last weekend was a good result so hopefully we can have a few more of them.”
He added: "We had a good year at Ipswich last year and there’s a great group of lads down there. It seems to be very similar here and the boys are a tight group so I’m happy to be on board.
âœï¸ CONFIRMED: We are delighted to announce the signing of Joe Garner from @Official_ITFC for an undisclosed fee.
More 👇https://t.co/uFemy905b3#wafc 🔵⚪ï¸ðŸ’š pic.twitter.com/s594Jk9nZ8— Wigan Athletic (@LaticsOfficial) August 9, 2018
"Hopefully I can add a few more goals and contribute as much as I can. It’s a tough league and there’s some good teams in it. I think we can hold our own though and push on right up there.”
Garner joined Town from Rangers for a fee of £750,000 in June 2017 and the Blackburn-born frontman scored 10 goals in 29 starts and three sub appearances during 2017/18 before his season was curtailed by a small fracture to his skull.
During his spell out towards the end of the season, the former Preston, Nottingham Forest and Carlisle man underwent surgery for shoulder and knee problems.
Having scored the only goal in the behind-closed-doors friendly against Kilmarnock in Spain, a knee injury prevented Garner from taking any further part in pre-season and he wasn’t ready to be included in the 18 for Saturday’s Championship opener against his hometown club.
Garner was understood to be keen to return to his native North-West with his children based in that region.
Town boss Paul Hurst will now look for another striker with EFL clubs able to sign players on loan until the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Wigan have also confirmed the capture of Blues target Josh Windass, 24, from Rangers for £2 million, signing a three-year deal.