{"id":578388,"date":"2021-01-11T12:55:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=578388"},"modified":"2021-01-11T12:55:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:55:49","slug":"wigan-athletic-sign-tendayi-darikwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/11\/wigan-athletic-sign-tendayi-darikwa\/","title":{"rendered":"Wigan Athletic Sign Tendayi Darikwa on a Short Term Deal Until the End of the Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/football\/tag\/wigan-athletic\" target=\"_self\">Wigan Athletic<\/a> have signed full-back <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/beecc37c\/Tendayi-Darikwa\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tendayi Darikwa<\/a> on a deal until the end of the season after his release from <a href=\"\/football\/tag\/nottingham-forest\" target=\"_self\">Nottingham Forest<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Darikwa is the Latics\u2019 first addition this window as they desperately try to find players and enhance their chances of staying in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/10\/nottingham-forest-scouting-doncaster-rovers-midfielder-ben-whiteman\/\" target=\"_self\">League One<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Darikwa reunites with Wigan\u2019s caretaker manager Leam Richardson after they worked together at Chesterfield. The deal is subject to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/07\/two-womens-super-league-games-suspended-due-to-covid-19\/\" target=\"_self\">EFL<\/a> approval.<\/p>\n<h2>Wigan Athletic Sign Tendayi Darikwa Until End of the Season<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u270d\ufe0f Signing | We are delighted to welcome Tendayi Darikwa to Latics on a short-term contract until the end of the season!<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to Latics, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TendayiDarikwa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TendayiDarikwa<\/a>!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/wafc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#wafc<\/a> \ud83d\udd35\u26aa\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wigan Athletic (@LaticsOfficial) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LaticsOfficial\/status\/1348660945124528129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 11, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Darikwa Hoping For Game Time After Period of Injuries<\/h3>\n<p>The full-back is vastly experienced in the EFL- featuring in all three divisions and even helping Chesterfield to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/09\/chelsea-frank-lampard-key-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">League Two<\/a> title in 2014. Darikwa was also part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/category\/premier-league\/burnley\/\" target=\"_self\">Burnley<\/a> side which reached the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/10\/thiago-alcantara-solution-liverpool-predictability-problem\/\" target=\"_self\">Premier League<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Injuries have hampered the last few years of his career with Darikwa struggling to get a consistent run in the Forest team. He made 63 appearances in total for Forest but departs after his contract was terminated.<\/p>\n<p>He joins a Wigan side desperately short on numbers as they look to rebuild their squad. Several players who joined on short term loans and deals have expired or are close to expiring. It\u2019s a difficult situation for caretaker manager Leam Richardson.<\/p>\n<p>However, he will be boosted by the signing of a player he knows well. His experience will be vital in a very young Wigan side. Darikwa will be a key figure on and off the pitch and his performances will have to be at there best as Wigan battle relegation.<\/p>\n<p>The turmoil off the pitch isn\u2019t helping their situation. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/05\/wigan-takeover-off\/\" target=\"_self\">A proposed takeover collapsed<\/a> and now their future is uncertain once again. This is affecting Leam Richardson\u2019s chances of strengthening the squad.<\/p>\n<p>However, Darikwa\u2019s arrival offers optimism. He could make his debut in Wigan\u2019s next game against fellow strugglers <a href=\"\/football\/tag\/rochdale\" target=\"_self\">Rochdale<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Darikwa Delighted to Reunite With Leam Richardson<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wiganathletic.com\/news\/2021\/january\/Tendayi-Darikwa-I-can-t-wait-to-get-out-on-the-pitch-\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Speaking to the Wigan Athletic website<\/a> about his move, Darikwa said: \u201cI\u2019m delighted, it\u2019s happened quite quickly. I\u2019m a Wigan Athletic player and I\u2019m delighted to be here and I can\u2019t wait to get started.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve not played too much football in the last 18 months after a bad injury. But I\u2019m fit again and I can\u2019t wait to get on the pitch and start playing competitive games again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope to help the team as quickly as possible. I\u2019ve looked at the league table, of course we are in a tough position at the moment in the league. I think we have enough quality to get out of it. I want to come in and help the lads and hopefully move up the league.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m fit and have been training with the first team at Forest since I came back from my injury and I haven\u2019t missed a session.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI spoke to Leam a few times over the past couple of weeks on the phone. He\u2019s someone who has had a big effect on me at the start of my career when I was at Chesterfield so it\u2019s nice to come in and help him out and &#8211; hopefully &#8211; together we can move up the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst and foremost, I\u2019m a defender so I want to come in and help the team be solid at the back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also want to help the team get up the pitch and use my pace and my energy, so I can hopefully get a few assists and try and nick a few goals if I can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"mHUk0OTTQR1Vm5T5aIqOAg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1156682815\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'mHUk0OTTQR1Vm5T5aIqOAg',sig:'StuFFsfhCq18ep3CDLVvNl6V2sacB-lNaQ2KU52jojc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1156682815',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wigan Athletic have signed full-back Tendayi Darikwa on a deal until the end of the season after his release from Nottingham Forest. Darikwa is the Latics\u2019 first addition this window as they desperately try to find players and enhance their chances of staying in League One. Darikwa reunites with Wigan\u2019s caretaker manager Leam Richardson after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3241,"featured_media":578402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,34,4475,28],"tags":[657,891,7556,37,795,136],"class_list":["post-578388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-league-football","category-league12","category-nottingham-forest","category-transfers","tag-efl-league-one","tag-nottingham-forest","tag-tendayi-darikwa","tag-transfers","tag-wigan-athletic","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Tom Cunningham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}