As you will know, Wigan suffered relegation to League 1 in 2014/15.

Therefore, the Latics are bound to have to offload some of their better players as they come to terms with this drop in divisions. Hard choices will need to be made.

The club has already let go of five players, including the long-serving Ali Al Habsi and they could also let go of the even longer-serving Emmerson Boyce, who has revealed it could be time for him to leave the club.

James McClean, who has arguably been one of Wigan’s best players since his move to the DW, could be another one of the casualties. For a player who has previously played in the Premier League with Sunderland, League 1 may not be a league he wishes to play in. Therefore, he could take the chance to leave.

It would be a blow for the Latics but one that they could recover from with the right signings.

Now here’s the question: if McClean does decide he wants to play football in a higher league, which team could be best suited for him? The answer – Leeds United.

Would James McClean be an ideal signing for Uwe Rosler as part of his new 4-3-3 ‘Heavy Metal’ formation for the upcoming Championship 2015/16 campaign? I think so.

As seen in our article on Uwe Rosler’s Plan A, the club are quite weak in the right wing area. (The picture on the right is the formation taken from the aforementioned article that Rosler is likely to play – his ‘Plan A’)

As part of this formation, Byram can’t be expected to push up too much on the right – he’d be playing as a RB – so he wouldn’t be able to fill the gap. Doukara is the main option at RW but McClean would be a better option to fill the role.

He was one of Wigan’s main attacking threats last year and he could be a great signing for United. He managed to score six goals and get six assists from the wing for the Latics in the league last campaign, which is good for a team that managed to score just 39 goals all season – the second worst total in the league.

He also has valuable experience which he could add to the Leeds squad. He’s played at the highest level for Sunderland and he is also a Republic of Ireland international and of course he has played in the Championship before with Wigan – all of which could be a big boost to the Elland Road side.

Let’s not forget his age – he’s 26 and about to hit what could be the peak of his career (it’s typically said that footballers play their best football from the age of 27 to 29) and he’s already showing that he can be a thorn in the opposition’s side in some games.

He’s quick and is capable of bombing down the right flank for Leeds and for Wigan he always seemed to give 100% each time that he played. Of course Rosler used to manage the Latics and knows all about McClean and it’s another reason why him signing for United could work – the two have worked together before and Rosler knows how he likes to play.

But, there are some issues. McClean plays on the left wing at the DW, not the right wing and that could prove to be a problem. He has proven to be a very one-footed player at times and with his tendency to cut inside and shoot and it would be a lot harder for him to do it out on the right.

He could always adjust to playing on the right if he was to make the jump to Elland Road but would he perform as well? With his style of play and weaker foot, probably not. That’s the only real issue.

But, if Rosler really was keen on a reunion then he could even switch out Mowatt on the left to make room for the Irishman, just so he was in his preferred position. Mowatt could drop back into the midfield with Cook and Rosler could have Murphy play as a holding midfielder and then play Doukara and McClean up-front on the right and left.

Either way, I do feel McClean would be a good addition to the Leeds squad. He is one of Wigan’s better players and he can’t be expected to stay at the DW and play League 1 football when he has played in the Premiership and Championship. The Latics could use the funds from his sale to replace him – Sam Clucas who has already been linked could be a potential replacement – so they wouldn’t be struggling at left wing if he was to leave and Leeds could benefit from his signing no matter what wing he ended up playing on.

Leeds fans: do you agree? Would you have him at Elland Road? Wigan fans: what do you think about this? Would you be able to replace McClean?