Steve Bruce admits he faces a big fight to keep Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki at the club next season.
Wigan boss fears losing star strikers
Steve Bruce admits he faces a big fight to keep Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki at the club next season.
Heskey is out of contract in the summer, while Zaki is only on loan until the end of the season.
Heskey has shown excellent form over the past 12 months, which has led to an England recall, and Zaki has made a huge impact on the Premier League since his move from Egypt scoring five goals in six games.
But Bruce knows both his forwards are attracting plaudits and admirers in equal measure.
"Life as the manager of Wigan means accepting that we're always in danger of losing our players," revealed Bruce. "We've created the nucleus of a really decent team but my biggest fear is can we keep it together? Because the vultures are already hovering.
"If Chris Kirkland stays fit, he's the best goalkeeper in the country. There's always been interest in Heskey, Palacios, Valencia, Scharner and now in Zaki."
Determined
Bruce insists he is determined to keep both strikers but admits it will be hard to deny them a move to a bigger club.
"Heskey is out of contract next summer and Zaki is only on loan for the season, although we have an agreement in principle to keep him," he said.
"Keeping those two is fundamental to us. I've been a centre-half and I know for a fact I wouldn't want to play against that pair.
"My chairman will back me to the hilt but how can I deny these lads the opportunity if one of the big boys comes knocking on our door? That's the problem we are going to have to address this term."
Bruce is very proud of how much of an impact Zaki has made on Wigan.
"People mocked me when Zaki first came here," he recalls. "Even when I pointed out that he's scored 27 goals in 50 internationals, they'd say 'yes, against Djibouti'.
"But the first time I saw him he scored two against the Ivory Coast, who had seven Premier League players in their team. He just rampaged through their defence.
"So we analysed him and asked if he could do the same thing in the Premier League. He's well built and physically strong enough to cope. But the thing which most impressed me was his hunger and desire. He was desperate to come to this country and prove himself.
"So we decided he was worth a gamble. And, so far, that gamble has certainly paid off."
Mido tribute
Wigan face Boro on Saturday which will see Zaki face fellow countrymen Mohamed Shawky and Mido, and the latter is delighted for his friend.
"We are all proud to see Zaki excelling with Wigan, I said before that he is one of few Egyptian strikers who can make it to the Premier League," Mido told
Dream Sport TV.
"My relationship with Amr is great, I am always trying to be there for him in England. We are usually together, with Shawky as well.
"I am very happy to see Amr scoring goals with Wigan, I normally hope no other striker in the Premiership scores more than I do, but Amr is an exception.
"I hope we can be together on top of the scoring charts at the end of the season, but I think that scoring more than 20 Premiership goals will be an achievement for any Egyptian striker."
Bruce is a big admirer of Mido too and could very well be linking up with Zaki in January if the Wigan boss gets his way, after he failed with a bid in August.
"I think he is a very good player when he is fit, I tried to take him to Birmingham from Tottenham, we had him at the club but could not agree a fee at the time," Bruce said of Mido.
"I made an enquiry about him in the conversation with Middlesbrough last summer but that was as far as it went."
With Zaki coming from Africa and the likes of Wilson Palacios, Maynor Figueroa and Antonio Valencia arriving via South America, Bruce admits Wigan will continue looking around the world for signings.
"We have to spread our net a lot wider and look for players all around the world," he continued. "Everyone in football knows about Brazil and Argentina, but we're targeting countries like Honduras and Ecuador, the poorer countries who are producing some good players.
"I took Palacios to Birmingham and signed him but they didn't really take much interest in him. So when I moved to Wigan I brought him with me.
"Getting Palacios has opened up the door to Honduras for us. That's how we got Figueroa. Then we got Valencia from Ecuador and now we're looking all over South America."
