Wrexham capped a brilliant summer transfer window off with an equally brilliant deadline day haul.
On deadline day alone, Wrexham signed three new players in Ben Sheaf, Issa Kabore, and Dom Hyam.
The trio arriving takes Wrexham’s summer spending total towards the £40m mark. Once again, owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have made history with Wrexham spending more than any team has ever done in the Championship, that hasn’t just been relegated from the Premier League.
Phil Parkinson now has a team worthy of challenging for promotion this season, and he’ll use this current international break to get his new team gelling in time for the game against QPR in two weeks’ time.
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Ben Sheaf to Wrexham dubbed ‘signing of the summer’
Speaking on the Second Tier podcast, Ryan Dilks ran through deadline day in the Championship, singling out Wrexham’s deal to sign Sheaf as the signing of the day, and potentially even the signing of the summer in the entire league.
Wrexham paid £6.5million to sign Sheaf who joins on a three-year deal from Coventry City. With the Sky Blues, Sheaf was captain and a key player, making 177 total appearances for the club and reaching the Championship play-off final in 2023.
Dilks said: “I think the player they’re getting for £6.5million, that’s cracking value. It may even go down as possibly my signing of the summer.”
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Arsene Wenger once gave his verdict on Wrexham new boy Ben Sheaf
If Wrexham fans want an idea of just how good Sheaf is, they don’t need to look far. Coventry City fans are fuming that the club have sold Sheaf amid their own push for promotion, whilst former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger once gave a glowing review of Sheaf during his time with the Gunners.
Sheaf was a youth player with Arsenal, making three first team appearances for the club, including one in Europe. Speaking back in 2017, Wenger said of Sheaf: “He’s always ahead of the game and his anticipation quality is absolutely huge. He has that kind of mental strength as well. A typical British way of handling things, facing the difficulties with a very cool and intelligent way.
“There is something in him that I believe will allow him to progress always. Because he analyses well what’s happening to him, he assesses well what is going on and that’s why I believe he will have a good career.”
Like Wenger predicted, Sheaf has gone on to enjoy a solid career, and if he can now achieve promotion to the Premier League with Wrexham, it would no doubt be his biggest achievement to date.
Wrexham’s game against QPR kicks off on Saturday 13th September, at 3pm at the Racecourse.