Wrexham have bolstered their attacking options with the free signing of Josh Windass, who arrives on a three-year contract.
Sheffield Wednesday are a club in crisis. Several players have handed in their notice this summer, including Josh Windass, who scored 13 goals in the Championship last season, ending as the Owls’ top scorer.
In five years with the club, Windass scored an impressive 53 goals, but he’s now a Wrexham player, having left Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer, and he’ll be looking to help Wrexham challenge for an unthinkable fourth straight promotion under Phil Parkinson and owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac next year.
He’s not the only striker to have arrived at the Racecourse this summer, with Wrexham signing Ryan Hardie as their first summer signing. As it goes, Windass knows Hardie from his time at Rangers.
- READ MORE: Former Swansea City man responds as Josh Windass signs for Wrexham, James McClean also reacts
Josh Windass speaks about Wrexham summer signing Ryan Hardie
Speaking in his first interview as a Wrexham player, Windass was asked whether or not he knows any of the current players. He explained how Hardie was a youth player at Rangers when Windass was a first-team player there, going on to say how he’s excited to be reunited with his fellow Wrexham striker.
Windass said: “Ryan Hardie was in the Rangers youth team when I was playing there, so he came up through the youth and obviously I’ve been in the change room with him before. He’s a nice guy. I’m looking forward to seeing him again.”
In 73 total games for the Gers, Windass scored 19 goals and assisted 13 more. Hardie meanwhile made 17 first-team appearances for the club, scoring twice before going on to make a name for himself in loan spells with the likes of Livingston and Raith Rovers.
Who is Wrexham’s starting striker going into next season?
Parkinson likes to play with two up front, though in the latter stages of last season, the second striker played more as a number 10. Throughout, it was Sam Smith and Jay Rodriguez with Rodriguez the deeper-lying forward, but Wrexham fans were unimpressed with Rodriguez.
It looks as though he’ll now play a backup role next season and could be replaced by one of Hardie or Windass, with Sam Smith likely to keep his spot up top after his impressive scoring run in the second half of last season.
There are also reports that Wrexham will spend £10million on a striker signing this summer, so there’s yet more quality to arrive in the final third.
It’s a nice problem for Parkinson to have going into next season, to have so many strikers capable of leading the line. Expect to see some player departures in the attacking department though, with the likes of Ollie Palmer potentially bound to leave Wrexham this summer.
Wrexham return to action with a pre-season friendly against FC Groningen on August 2nd, though they may well have a behind-closed-doors friendly before then.