Wigan prepare final offer of £4m to sign goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi from Bolton

Ali Al Habsi – Wigan (Getty images)

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By Greg Stobart | Northern Correspondent

Wigan Athletic are set to make a third and final offer of £4 million to sign goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi on a permanent deal from Bolton Wanderers.

Al Habsi spent a hugely impressive loan spell at the DW Stadium last season and Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has a £3m bid on the table for the Oman international.

Wigan’s initial bid of £2.5m was rejected and Bolton are asking for £5m for the 29-year-old, who is eager to complete the switch and play regular first-team football next season.

Bolton boss Owen Coyle is continuing to look for replacement second-choice goalkeepers and Wigan are confident of sealing a deal in the coming days.

Martinez has admitted he is considering alternative options should Bolton stick to their asking price, but he expects a resolution “very soon.”

“I suspect one way or another we’ll find out very, very soon which way it’ll go,” Martinez told the  Evening Post.

“At the moment, there is nothing to report, but we remain hopeful of doing the deal.

“When you are talking about a player like Ali, you need to do everything you can to keep him at the football club. But in this situation, when he is not under contract to us, things are not totally in our hands.

“Our priority of course would be to keep Ali, but if we have to move for another player in that position then that’s what we’ll do.

“Ali has made it clear he’d love to carry on his time with us, and we’d love to keep him, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Al Habsi played 33 games for the Latics last term and was voted as the fans’ player of the season, after making only 10 appearances in four years at Reebok Stadium.

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