Controversial Egyptian striker Amr Zaki has blasted Wigan for putting the skids on an £11million January transfer to Aston Villa.

Zaki joined Wigan on a season-long loan from El Zamalek last summer and scored 11 goals before the turn of the year before eventually fading as the season progressed.

The powerful 26-year-old was heavily linked with high profile moves in January with even Chelsea being mooted as a possible destination, but Zaki claims a firm approach from Aston Villa was rebuffed by Wigan.

"Aston Villa offered £11million to sign me in the first half of the season," Zaki said in the Birmingham Mail.

"However, Wigan refused to get compensation as they had hopes to sign me and let me join another club later in order to make money.

"They did the same with Palacios, buying him for £1million and selling him to Spurs for £14million. It was impossible for them to spend more than £6-7million on me.

"Wigan is not one of the top four. All they want is to buy players for cheap and then make money by selling them to other clubs later. They would never pay ridiculous amounts of cash on me."

Zaki, who is hoping to stay in the Premier League , is no stranger to controversy after falling foul of then Wigan boss Steve Bruce earlier this year.

Bruce publicly expressed his disappointment at Zaki's failure to return on time from international duty with Egypt in April, revealing it was the fourth time it had happened and describing him as the most "unprofessional" player he had ever worked with.