Whelan wants Spaniard to stay and bring the club back.
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Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan is hoping to convince Robert Martinez to stay at the club and help them bounce straight back up to the Premier League next season, though he admits that may be tough as he has already received a number of offers from other clubs, The Express reports.
Wigan became the first club in history to win the FA Cap and suffer relegation from the top flight in the same season when they were beaten 4-1 by Arsenal this week but Martinez’s stock remains high and he is set for talks with the chairman after the club’s final Premier League encounter with Aston Villa this weekend.
Whelan has hopes that Martinez will stay, but will understand if he decides to move on this summer as he has been one of the names mentioned in the frame to replace David Moyes at Everton.
“We’ll have a meeting after the final match and he’s so honest he will tell me then whether he is staying or going. He has had numerous offers. There’s clubs bigger than Everton looking at Roberto every season because he’s a quality manager,” he said.
“We have a partnership, we have complete trust in each other, that’s how we operate. Of course we would love him to stay but what he decides I will accept.”
“The first season [after relegation] is the one to get back up – the parachute payment is the biggest and we should have the same core of players.”
“What made the difference this season is that Lady Luck deserted us. We had the most horrendous luck with injuries – sometimes eight first-choice players out with injury. We accept that overall we were not quite good enough but we also feel hard-done-by.”