Wrexham have won promotion to the Championship and already look to have one eye on promotion to the Premier League.
Wrexham made history when they became the first side in the EFL to win three promotions in a row.
A remarkable achievement, but Rob McElhenney played down ‘consolidation’ for the 2025/26 season, seeming to hint he wants to try and make it four in a row.
Ryan Reynolds backs Wrexham to reach the Premier League as well, though his predicted timeline is a bit longer than the next 12 months.
Ben Foster says the Red Dragons will win promotion to the top tier of English football in the coming years as well.
But if Wrexham are going to compete with the cream of the crop in the Championship, they may need to start spending a lot more.
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Wrexham transfer spend compared to top Championship teams
Wrexham had busy summer and winter transfer windows in the most recent campaign, as well as signing some free agents.
| Player | Signed from |
| Sam Smith | Reading |
| Modou Faal | West Brom |
| Ryan Longman | Hull City |
| Ollie Rathbone | Rotherham |
| Sebastian Revan | Aston Villa |
| Dan Scarr | Plymouth |
| Arthur Okonkwo | Arsenal |
| George Dobson | Charlton |
| Callum Burton | Plymouth |
| Jay Rodriguez | Burnley |
| Lewis Brunt | Leicester City |
| Matty James | Without club |
| Jon Dadi Bodvarsson | Without club |
| Brad Foster | Without club |
| Josh Adam | Without club |
All told, these signings, as reported by Transfermarkt, gave the Hollywood-backed side an expenditure of €4.96m, or around £4.2m.
That put them as the third-highest spenders in League One during 2024/25 behind Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town.
But when comparing them to the top-six teams in the Championship, the Red Dragons’ outlay is minuscule.
All told, the top teams in the second tier paid out €153.7m on transfers over the course of the year, which works out at an average of €25.61m (around £21.66m) per club.
| Team (league position) | 2024/25 transfer expenditure | Annual salary |
| Leeds United (1st, promoted) | €54.19m | £3,640,000 |
| Burnley (2nd, promoted) | €32.42m | £2,340,000 |
| Sheffield United (3rd) | €22.14m | £1,820,000 |
| Sunderland (4th) | €11.75m | £1,300,000 |
| Coventry City (5th) | €21.25m | £1,404,000 |
| Bristol City (6th) | €11.95m | £1,560,000 |
Humphrey Ker expects big money to be spent for Wrexham to reach Premier League
Spending more money is obviously something the club have been aware they must do for some time.
Wrexham’s wage bill will quadruple in the Championship, and an even bigger increase is expected if they want to make a push for another promotion.
Humphrey Ker spoke about reaching the Premier League earlier this week and, when doing so, admitted they could need to spend 10 times as much.
He said: “It will come with a big challenge because suddenly we will need to probably quadruple our playing budget easily just to have a shot at staying in the Championship.
“If you want to finish mid-table, upper mid-table, you’re talking about 6x something like that what we’re doing and if you want to get in the Premier League, it’s 10x pretty much.”