Argentine striker Franco Di Santo didn't make the expected impact at West London giants Chelsea and that prompted the move to Wigan Athletic two years after his move to Stamford Bridge. The San Lorenzo player came to the Premier League as a hot prospect following his transfer from AudaxItaliano in the South American nation of Chile.
Franco Di Santo spent two years as a Chelsea player including a loan spell with fellow former Premier League winner Blackburn Rovers before leaving the Blues for Wigan Athletic. Chelsea received around £2m for his transfer. He signed a three-year deal at Wigan in August 2010 until the summer of 2013 upon his move from Chelsea who had to cut their losses on the striker whom they paid £3.4m for to secure his signing from Chile.
His first game for Wigan Athletic was as a substitute in the second half of the Premier League encounter with Sunderland. He came on in the place of Hendry Thomas for the final 36 minutes as the two clubs settled for a 1-1 draw. He made his first start for the Latics in the 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City.
Franco Di Santo didn't score his first goal for Wigan Athletic until the second half of the season. As a matter of fact, his first Wigan goal arrived in the penultimate month of the season in the 4-2 defeat to Sunderland. He scored the last goal of the six-goal thriller in added time. He had gone almost two years without finding the back of the net.
His second season with the Latics was much better than the first season. He won a penalty off Ritchie Da Laetas his team played out a score draw with Norwich City. Teammate Ben Watson scored the penalty won by Franco Di Santo for the only goal of the game for the Latics. In the third game of the season, the Argentine scored the first brace of his Wigan career via two deflected goals in the 2-0 win over London team Queens Park Rangers (QPR). In total, he scored 13 goals in 92 games for Wigan in the Premier League.