Kilbane wants Wigan stay

Player is out-of contract in the summer but wants a new deal

Last updated: 10th December 2008

Kilbane wants Wigan stay

Kilbane: Out-of-contract

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Kevin Kilbane says he is happy at Wigan Athletic and hopes to earn a new deal at the club.

The 31-year-old is out of contract in the summer and could be forgiven for worrying about his future, given he has made just three starts and four substitute appearances in the Premier League this term.

His relative lack of opportunities comes as Maynor Figueroa has established himself at left-back in the side, while competition in the Latics' midfield is fierce.

But the Republic of Ireland international, who moved to Wigan from Everton in August 2006, is not unduly worried and is happy to simply concentrate on his football.

He told the Wigan Evening Post: "I don't know what my long-term plans are - there's been no contract offer or anything.

Happy here

"It's not particularly in my thinking at the moment. I'll just have to see what happens in the next few months. But I'm happy here, I'd like to stay."

Kilbane is looking forward to Wigan's North-West derby game against Blackburn on Saturday.

The 11th placed Latics are currently six points in front of Paul Ince's strugglers and could extend this gap with a win.

Kilbane added: "We've got to make sure we don't give Blackburn the chance to kick-start their season.

"They will feel they can come and get something, but we think we can win it.

Running

"This time last year, we kick-started our season by beating Blackburn 5-3 here - it got us up and running.

"The first half of that game was as good as we had played in a long while. Then in the second half, things could have gone either way.

"Blackburn went down to 10 men and it was an absolute humdinger of a game, really good to play in and had just about everything. I would take a 1-0 win this time.

"We're going all right at the moment but the league is so tight at the moment that a couple of defeats can drop you back down the table.

"Our aim is to stay where we are and if anything, push further up the table. If we can continue churning out results, we should be okay."