Wigan Athletic: Blackburn Rovers capture did not live up to the hype | OneFootball

Ryan Nyambe failed to deliver expectations for Wigan Athletic, after previously excelling at Blackburn Rovers

Wigan Athletic approached the 2022/23 Championship season at a time when plenty of optimism was surrounding the club, after they had lifted the 2021/22 League One title.

Such a triumph was the Latics' third League One trophy in just seven seasons, but it was the one which meant the most to supporters, who could have seen their club become extinct, after facing administration for the vast majority of the 2020/21 campaign.

The Greater Manchester outfit's silverware-clinching exploits in 2022 were highly enjoyable for the Brick Community Stadium faithful, who were subsequently excited to see the acquisitions that then manager Leam Richardson would make in preparation for the Championship.

One signing the Latics made that summer was the addition of full-back Ryan Nyambe, who had previously plied his trade for local rivals Blackburn Rovers.

Nyambe failed to deliver Wigan Athletic expectations

Nyambe rose through the ranks at the Rovers academy, and played his first Championship match for the Lancashire club during the 2016/17 season.

The Namibia international went on to make over 200 appearances for the Ewood Park outfit, so arrived at the Latics with plenty of second tier experience to his name.

When Wigan secured his signature, they were hopeful that the right-back could provide them with the sort of Championship expertise which could help them stay in the division.

However, come the end of the campaign, the Latics were relegated, and Nyambe would be remembered as just another cog in a failed machine which suffered relegation back to League One amid tricky circumstances, before he joined Derby County after spending just one season at the Brick Community Stadium.

Throughout the 2022/23 season, the Latics players experienced delays in wage payments, courtesy of the financial mismanagement overseen by former owner Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi, which resulted in points deductions.

But aside from monetary concerns, the Tics also endured a poor campaign in a footballing sense too, and would have been relegated from the Championship in 2023, even if it wasn't for such penalties, unlike Reading who went down to League One purely because of a six-point deduction that same year.

Wigan conceded a whopping 65 goals in the second tier that season, while Nyambe was unable to help shore up his new club's backline, despite boasting bags of Championship experience earned during his Blackburn days.

In fact, during his time in Latics colours, Nyambe proved all too easy for opposition attackers to get the better of on a frequent basis, and won just 57.3% of duels he encountered in the league that term, and was successful in just 54.8% of his tackles, according to FotMob.

Nyambe's Blackburn success will forever be at Wigan's envy

Throughout his time with Rovers, Nyambe proved himself to be a solid Championship defender, who would seemingly boast all the right tools to help the Latics survive in the second tier upon his arrival in Greater Manchester.

He made 31 league appearances for a Blackburn side who missed out on a play-off spot by just six points during the 2021/22 season, so the Tics will have been convinced that his services could enable them to avoid an unwanted return to League One.

However, Nyambe's Latics performances were consistently underwhelming, leaving supporters jealous of his previous achievements with their local rivals.

All in all, the Namibia international was unable to deliver the sort of Championship quality that Wigan were after during the summer of 2023, and his career at the Brick Community Stadium will sadly always be associated with relegation.