Whelan says Wigan agree compensation for Martinez

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez’s move to Everton has moved closer after Latics chairman Dave Whelan confirmed the two clubs have agreed a compensation payment.

The Spaniard held talks with Toffees chairman Bill Kenwright last week and a deal has now been agreed to buy out the remaining year of Martinez’s contract.

Whelan told reporters: “I’ve reached some terms with the chairman, Bill, of Everton. He can now talk to Everton because Bill and myself have sorted the compensation.”

Martinez had already held talks, with Whelan’s permission, but is now free to discuss contract terms.

“He’d spoken to Everton because I gave them permission,” Whelan said.

“When he came back and told me how it had gone, it had gone very well and he was probably in the last two or three on the list. Then the chairman rang me and discussed the compensation deal with me.”

Porto coach Vitor Pereira and former Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick had also been linked with the vacancy.

Martinez, 39, was linked with the Everton vacancy almost as soon as David Moyes’s departure to Manchester United was confirmed.

Whelan initially suggested, before FA Cup winners Wigan’s relegation from the English Premier League last month, that Everton were not a big enough club to tempt manager Martinez away from them.

But he said: “Sometimes I wind the chairman up at Everton because we’ve had some really serious fun and entertainment watching Everton play Wigan. We get on so well together.

“When I say things like ‘I thought you meant a big football club’, I’m winding Bill up. They are a big club, no question.”

Whelan added that he has yet to hold talks with any of the extensive list of applicants for the prospective vacancy at the DW Stadium.

“I’ve not been able to interview anybody,” he said.

“We’ve got about 30 people who’ve applied for the job and I’ve not been able to interview one of them because of this agreement over the compensation, I didn’t want to jeopardise that.”