Wigan Athletic boss Steve Bruce has urged chairman Dave Whelan to follow Portsmouth's lead and back him in the market this summer.

"It was only two years ago that I was at Birmingham battling it out with Portsmouth to avoid relegation," he said in The Sun. "We beat them 5-0 and Harry Redknapp went straight out and spent about £10 million. When they stayed up he bought Sol Campbell, David James, Kanu and Sylvain Distin.

"Now they've kicked on again and are signing players like Jermain Defoe and Lassana Diarra.

"All you need is a bit of ambition from your owner and Dave Whelan has that at Wigan."