Wrexham are looking to recruit new signings for Phil Parkinson’s squad ahead of the new Championship season.
Wrexham have clinched a third straight promotion and are now hoping to make a big impact in the second tier.
The Championship fixture list has not been especially kind to Phil Parkinson, with Wrexham facing Southampton on the opening weekend.
Wrexham now head to Australia and New Zealand, ramping up the preparations for the new season.
Only two signings have been secured ahead of the trip Down Under, with Ryan Hardie joining Wrexham before Danny Ward completed an emotional return.
Many fans expected more business to be done, but Wrexham’s rumoured spending spree has yet to really kick off.
Championship spending sums up Wrexham challenge
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have spent well on transfer fees and wages over the years, and the Allyn family investing in Wrexham certainly helped the club’s financial muscle.
Wrexham’s total business so far this summer comes to around £700,000, and that was just for Hardie, given that Ward was a free transfer.
Look around the rest of the Championship and money is being splashed up and down the league.
Norwich City are poised to sign Mathias Kvistgaarden in a move worth up to £12million, six times Wrexham’s record signing.
Millwall have signed Josh Coburn for up to £5million (Mirror), West Bromwich Albion are paying almost £5million for Brann’s Aune Heggebø (Fabrizio Romano), and Derby County are close to signing Charlotte’s Patrick Agyemang for a fee rising to above £7million (Tom Bogert).
Birmingham City have just spent £10million on Kyogo Furuhashi, Southampton are set to spend almost £7million on Koln’s Damion Downs (Florian Plettenberg), and Swansea City splashed £5million on Zeidane Inoussa from BK Hacken.
Wrexham may not expect to be in direct competition with many of these clubs, but the sheer amount of money being spent in the Championship this summer is remarkable.
Wrexham were able to compete with National League, League Two and League One clubs on a financial basis, but those deals sum up what awaits in the Championship.
Most of the clubs are either recent Premier League teams or teams that want to spend in order to reach the top flight.
Birmingham vastly outspent Wrexham last summer, but it is not just one club throwing the cash around that Wrexham must compete with in the Championship; it’s several.
Wrexham are chasing a £5million deal for Lewis O’Brien, though wages could be a problem and are just another area in which Wrexham are adjusting to at this level.
McElhenney and Reynolds will certainly give Wrexham the best chance to compete, but it’s difficult to avoid a sharp intake of breath when seeing some of these fees.
This is just part of the journey, and while one side of you thinks ‘just enjoy it!’ after Wrexham’s many years in the National League, another side of you just can’t believe the kind of spending Wrexham are coming up against now.
Wrexham’s transfer record likely to go again this summer
Wrexham spent £2million on Sam Smith in January, quadrupling the club’s transfer record in a huge move.
Modou Faal and Ollie Rathbone had become Wrexham’s record signings last summer, arriving for around £500,000.
We would now anticipate Wrexham’s record to be broken once again this summer, hopefully with O’Brien finalising a move.
£5million would be an incredible outlay on one player; the kind of spending that would have been a pipe dream even when McElhenney and Reynolds completed their takeover.
Wrexham are now competing with some serious spenders in the Championship, and O’Brien is surely unlikely to be the only multi-million-pound target on Parkinson’s radar this summer.