Marc-Antoine Fortune Joins Wigan On A 2 Year Deal After West Brom Departure

Fortune joins Wigan on a 2 year deal after leaving the Hawthorns.

Marc Antoine Fortune has joined Owen Coyle’s summer transfer spree as the former baggies striker joins Wigan on a 2 year deal. The 32 year old was welcomed to the DW Stadium yesterday in which he became Coyle’s 6th signing after replacing Roberto Martinez last month.

Fortune has experienced great spells with clubs such as Celtic, Brest, Utrecht, AS Nancy, Lille and even Doncaster Rovers as the striker has made a total of 138 British appearances, netting 27 times. As the Frenchman is not a natural goalscorer, he offers strength. experience and also versatility as he can play on the wing or even sit further back into midfield. After having a fantastic loan season for the baggies in 2009, Fortune signed for Scottish champions Celtic in 2010 for a fee of 3.5 million pounds which saw him spend 1 year at the club. However the Frenchman made a swift return to the Hawthorns in which he made 62 league appearances in 3 seasons.

After falling out of favour in the Baggies squad, Fortune decided to leave the club earlier this week in order to find regular first team football as Wigan came immediately calling. Due to the likes of Long and newly signed Anelka being highly depended on, the 32 year old’s services were not needed on a regular basis as Clarke still stated it as “a huge loss to the squad”.

Coyle stated yesterday: “To bring a player of such calibre to the football club is a great piece of business. He’s shown his qualities at the very highest level and, when I spoke to Steve Clarke at West Brom, he told me how he didn’t want to lose him, which goes to show how important he has been at his former club and proof that he has the capabilities to be a Premier League forward, never mind a Championship one.

“So I’m really exciting to bring him in, the first of the strikers to arrive, and I’m sure he’ll bring a great deal to the team. He’s powerful, can play anywhere across the front line and has pace to hurt defences.”

As Fortune only bagged 2 goals in last season’s campaign, he is definitely a player that will be missed in the squad as the fans percieved him as the reliable figure that was always present amongst the team. He joins defenders James Perch, Thomas Rogne, Stephen Crainey and goalkeeper Scott Carson as Wigan are looking like a very dangerious side for the new Championship campaign.