Wigan's first summer signing Daniel De Ridder leapt at the chance to be reunited with manager Steve Bruce at the JJB Stadium.
Bruce brought the Dutchman to England last year when he was boss of Birmingham but had little chance to work with the winger before leaving to take over the Latics.
De Ridder fell out of favour under new Blues boss Alex McLeish and so when the opportunity came to join Wigan, it was an offer he gratefully accepted.
"Last year, I came to Birmingham and Steve Bruce convinced me to go there but unfortunately he left after four months," said the 24-year-old.
"The change of management at Birmingham did not work well for me so this is a good move for me.
"I spoke to my agent and my family and Steve and I made my own mind up.
"He (Steve) showed me in the months he was at Birmingham that he did believe in me and he told me that this time also.
"There were some options that were not that concrete because there were two months left in the transfer window.
"Everything was going slow and then he called and said, 'I want to get you' and there was no hesitation."
Bruce said of his new arrival: "De Ridder was a no-brainer for me when I knew he was going to be a free transfer.
"He came to Birmingham and got injured in the first game against Chelsea and I didn't see him for six or seven weeks.
"When he came back just before I was leaving, he reminded me of just what a good player he was.
"He can play on both sides, he's an old-fashioned type of winger who can dribble and go past people."
Having brought in De Ridder, Bruce now has to bolster central midfield after missing out on Honduras international Hendry Thomas.
The club lost a work permit appeal on Wednesday to allow 23-year-old, who plays for Olimpia in his homeland, to join them.
Bruce was unhappy at being denied his number one target and, with Michael Brown and Thomas' international team-mate Wilson Palacios in central midfield, he now has to look elsewhere.
"We are disappointed because we did our homework over the summer for Hendry Thomas," said Bruce.
"We have worked so hard on that over the last three or four months, agreed a fee, been out to South America to try to tie the boy up and unfortunately he hasn't met the work-permit criteria.
"We have been kicked in the teeth. You get all that done and because of a little red tape, we have lost out."
Bruce said the defensive midfielder Thomas was not granted a work permit because, as he had been captaining the country's Olympic team, he had missed out on appearances for the senior side.
"That ended up counting against him as it is not a [FIFA] registered competition like a World Cup.
"He played for the Olympic team because the Honduras national association ploughed all their efforts into that because it took precedence because they had never been to the Olympics before.
"That stopped him playing for the [full] national team and you need appearances for the national team to meet the criteria."
