Roger Espinoza made his name with Sporting Kansas City, and according to his manager at Wigan, the tough-tackling midfielder is past ready to return home to the City of Fountains less than two years into his English adventure.
"Roger came twice to me and wanted to leave the club. He wanted to go back to Kansas," Latics manager Uwe Rosler told BBC Sport this week.
"I think after he came back after the World Cup, he struggled to find an appetite for football."
After Espinoza played in all three matches of Honduras' ill-fated World Cup campaign in Brazil over the summer, he returned to his English Championship club mentally spent and missing his family, who remained back home in the United States, Rosler explained.
"He was clearly off the pace and that was understandable in many ways – physically and also mentally – because when you work yourself up for four years to be at that mega tournament, nothing is bigger than this," added the German coach.
"He came back and wanted to go back to Kansas, he was homesick. I said, 'I can't let you go Roger, not now,' because at that point we didn't have any players in the midfield.”
Espinoza holds US citzenship and SKC still hold his MLS rights. Though manager Peter Vermes said earlier this year that they had passed on an opportunity to secure his return because it involved a transfer fee, he'd be welcomed back to Sporting Park.
“I've talked to Roger since he left, and we're always talking about an opportunity for him if he ever comes back. But we own his rights, and we want him to come back,” Vermes said during Sporting's weekly press conference on Oct. 8.
“[But] there's no reason for us to buy him … It would definitely not be a smart business move, and I like to think that we're pretty good on that.”
- Find more SKC news and notes at SportingKC.com
Espinoza left SKC in 2012 after five years of service in Kansas City. He has since made 47 appearances for Wigan, scoring two goals and leading the Latics to a delirious upset win over Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup final.
It appears that he remains in Rosler's good graces despite making his transfer request.
"We've had a good talk about his future and he is now in a good spirit," Rosler told BBC Sport. "Going forward, I think it is very difficult for a manager when a player is so strong-minded and convinced he wants to go home, because he wants to return home – so that is where we are with Roger."
