Football remains on lockdown and rightly so as society tries to confront and stem the tide of the COVID-19 virus strain that is ravaging the world. With no-one coming through the turnstiles it is tough times for clubs. One of those clubs is Wigan Athletic who The Sun says may have to sell highly-rated striker Joe Gelhardt “to balance the books.“
The Liverpool-born youngster has been on the Latics books since he was a youngster but the need to even things out financially might mean that a decision to sell comes above his obvious potential. It’s been a meteoric rise for the 17-year-old who only progressed from the youth set-up at the DW Stadium to the Under-18s at the start of last season.
Ahead of this season, it was a further promotion from the Under-18s to the first-team squad and it is a move that has seen the teenager develop much further. Since the jump to the first-team set-up, Gelhardt has made 15 appearances in this season’s Sky Bet Championship campaign so far.
The six-cap-three-goal England Under-18 starlet has featured on the bench from the opening day of the season, first featuring in a 27-minute substitute appearance against Barnsley on deadline day, August 31. His debut senior goal for Wigan came the very next game with an 18-minute substitute appearance against Hull City seeing the youngster score in a 2-2 draw away at the KCOM.
The Sun’s report mentions that Everton are interested in Gelhardt but the article does go on to state that “several big clubs” had been after him when he was starring for Wigan’s youth side.
