Wigan Athletic appear to have won the race to sign Cardiff winger Anthony Pilkington, despite Town having made him a better financial offer, and he is set to be unveiled by the Latics later today.

TWTD understands Pilkington, 30, took the decision to join the Latics for purely personal reasons because his family home is in the North West and he was keen to relocate there.

Town boss Paul Lambert had targeted the Republic of Ireland international front man after working with him at Norwich, where he signed him from Huddersfield in a £2 million deal almost eight years ago.

Pilkington, who had also been linked with Blackburn, was out of favour at Cardiff, having not played for them since April last year and helping them to win promotion to the Premier League.

Lambert will now turn his attention elsewhere, with trialist Simon Dawkins still a possible new recruit after impressing for the U23s in Monday’s 4-2 win over Bristol City that keeps Town on top of the Professional Development League Two South table.

Former Tottenham, Derby and San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Dawkins, a 31-year-old Jamaican international, has been training with the first team for the last few weeks and is available on a free transfer. He worked briefly with Lambert, making four substitute appearances, during a loan spell at Aston Villa early in 2013.

Photo: Action Images

martin587 added 13:10 - Jan 9 TractorCam, It was said with with tongue in cheek as we are all aware over the years Marcus has not been forthcoming with money,you only have to look at how MM struggled. I can read the report and understand very well what was said.I just get fed up with us loosing out on possible targets.
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nysully added 13:10 - Jan 9 @horsehollerer - it has nothing to do with money in the short term but money in the long term. Pilkington surely wants to be in the championship next year and that is why he chose Wigan. Short term maybe more money from us but down the road.....
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jpring89 added 13:11 - Jan 9 C..t. Please don't cry but it is.
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runaround added 13:12 - Jan 9 Shame as he is a good player but can't blame him for putting family first
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herfie added 13:16 - Jan 9 Pity, but understandable from his personal perspective - which we have to take on face value. No point in crying into our beer; similar has happened before. We move on.
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Welshblue72 added 13:18 - Jan 9 Move on, surely he wasn't the only possibility we are looking at. Get someone else in who wants to play every week
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raycrawfordswig added 13:20 - Jan 9 Evans was never going to give Lambert £10 million ,a figure plucked out of the air by lazy journalist at the Daily Comic oops Mirror.
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Saxonblue74 added 13:25 - Jan 9 Disappointing but we're not going to win them all. Good to know it was personal and not financial. No doubt we'll soon hear about the next target.
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TR11BLU added 13:25 - Jan 9 The number of people who comment on here without reading the bl00dy article. Idiots
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planetblue_2011 added 13:29 - Jan 9 Scummer anyway!! We move on!!
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beornioblue added 13:31 - Jan 9 makes sense if he is wanting to stay close to home rather than move to the opposite corner of the country
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Warkys_Tash added 13:35 - Jan 9 Its a shame but as the story says he has gone elsewhere for family reasons. Anyone with children will understand this. Wish him luck, move on to the next target. Sounds to me like the club are working very hard to persuade players to come AND are matching the financials! All you moaners, watch ‘Sunderland ‘til i die' on Netflicks & then realise how hard it is to get players in the door. Keep believing, stop moaning!!

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runningout added 13:39 - Jan 9 can't believe the dopey sods that choose to post the Sour grapes option. They probably don't know what the term ‘Sour Grapes'means..
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Fatboy added 13:42 - Jan 9 Let's hope he doesn't improve Wigan's current form (3 points from last 10 matches) as they're certainly looking like one of the teams that we need to catch.
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BlueandTruesince82 added 13:46 - Jan 9 We might have had a better crack at Tomlin.. . Not saying he would be the answer but
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TimmyH added 13:55 - Jan 9 So it's another family over Town affair then?...I remember back in the summer numerous posters saying Waghorn wanted to move closer to home (north east) in reality he moved about 80 miles closer!!...not sure that was the case with him. 10 points adrift at the bottom was no doubt part of the reason.
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braveblue added 14:00 - Jan 9 PL had a long list of possibilities. What has happened to them? Presume Evans refused anything that needed money. Better bring his ear plugs on Saturday. Could get nasty. PL wanted financial backing and rightly said we needed strengthening early January. No experience or quality signed so far. If this is it then we are down.
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Dissboyitfc added 14:01 - Jan 9 Nysully.. I have a strong hunch Wigan are going down, they are a really poor side and are in free fall! Next! COYBs
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marco007 added 14:09 - Jan 9 Yes Wigan...a rugby town are now a far better proposition than the former mighty Town 😖 I think we should forget about loanees..save the money and prepare for life i Division 1 Watching recent cup matches our current squad will be outplayed in division 1 !
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essextractorboy93 added 14:40 - Jan 9 The amount of people here who comment without actually reading the content of the article is ridiculous! Can't blame him for choosing Wigan as his family are based in the north west! He was obviously keen to come here and work with Lambert again but can't get them all! I'm sure Lambert has plenty of other targets in mind!
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martin587 added 14:43 - Jan 9 essextractorboy93, Read my other post.🤔
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Keaneish added 15:08 - Jan 9 At what point In history will things start going right for this club? Would have provided that little bit of quality we badly need right now.
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leftie1972 added 15:08 - Jan 9 No point in going on about it. Next.
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BigBlueMac added 15:12 - Jan 9 Floridaboy couldn't agree more. Typical fickle ipswich fans blaming Evans when we offered a better financial deal. If the lad want a to be nearer to home we can't help that
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runningout added 15:15 - Jan 9 Respect to Pilkington but I hope we weren't relying on this one going through.
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