CALLUM Lang has credited Oldham Athletic with the progress he has made in his career with Wigan.
The 23-year-old forward scored in a 3-1 win for the visitors at Boundary Park on Saturday, taking his pre-season tally to four goals in as many games.
Lang spent a season with Latics in 2018/19, during which time he made 50 appearances in all competitions and scored 16 goals.
He returned to his parent club and signed a new three-year contract in August 2019.
There were subsequent loan moves to Shrewsbury and Motherwell.
But Lang feels it is his time at Boundary Park that had the most significant impact on his development and ability to establish himself in the Wigan line-up.
“I think coming back and playing as well as I have at Wigan is massively due to what happened here,” he said after Saturday's friendly, which Wigan came back from behind to win with three second half goals.
“They gave me a chance to play every week in the league, and that’s obviously down to Frankie Bunn as well, who is with us at Wigan now.
“I really enjoyed it here, and I had a good connection with the fans. They are great supporters and it’s good to see them back moving in the right direction.”
Wigan made it four wins on the spin after recovering from Hallam Hope's first half opener. And Lang was pleased to play his part once more.
“It’s always important to get a good pre-season under your belt,” he said, speaking to Latics TV.
“I always come back ready and, as a squad, we all do.
“We look fit and it’s important to get our habits right - obviously for the forward players to be scoring, it gives you confidence going into the season, and defensively, we want to be solid.
“All around the pitch, it’s about getting those habits right for the first game.”
Championship new boys Wigan kick off against Preston North End at the DW Stadium in less than a fortnight. And Lang, who helped to fire Wigan to promotion as League One champions, added: “The first game is going to be a nice one with it being Preston at home, and it’ll obviously be a really intense game as well.
“We know what sort of challenge we are in for, and we need to be right at it, as we will need to be for every game in the Championship.
“I’m just looking forward to the season starting.”
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