Max Cleworth had a special mention for one of his Wrexham teammates after claiming the club’s Young Player of the Season award.
Max Cleworth has now won the Wrexham Young Player of the Year award two seasons in a row, picking it up in three of the last four campaigns too.
Ollie Rathbone was Wrexham’s Player of the Season but that’s also an award Cleworth could’ve won too, after what was another blistering campaign from the club’s academy starlet.
The 22-year-old featured 42 times in League One, scoring seven goals and assisting twice. In fact, Ryan Reynolds praised Cleworth after the end of the season, showing just how popular a figure the young defender has become.
He’ll be one who Phil Parkinson hopes will make the step up to the Championship with ease, and from there Cleworth could go even further and really set the bar for the next generation of Wrexham academy players.
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Max Cleworth hails Arthur Okonkwo at Wrexham
Arthur Okonkwo is another young gem at the Racecourse. Wrexham signed Okonkwo on a permanent deal last summer after he spent the previous season on loan at the club. The 23-year-old went on to keep a staggering 19 clean sheets in 33 League One games on the road to promotion.
Speaking after accepting his Young Player of the Season award, Cleworth reserved special praise for Okonkwo, saying: “Arthur’s unbelievable. I think he’s he’s the best keeper in the league. The amount of times he sort of saves us, it’s a lot and you know I thought sort of thank him for that because he’s a top goalie, but even more sort of a top lad.
“We have a good relationship on and off the pitch and I think we know each other’s games really well. He’s had another fantastic season and it’s a pleasure to play alongside.”
Arthur Okonkwo topped League One for one incredible statistic in 2024/25
Wrexham fans heaped praise on Okonkwo last season. At many times throughout the campaign he pulled off some huge saves to keep his side in games, with Parkinson hailing Okonkwo as ‘tremendous’ too.
And if he had featured in a few more games across the season then he’d have surely won the Golden Glove. Birmingham City’s Ryan Allsop won it with 21 clean sheets, but former Arsenal man Okonkwo topped the league for clean sheet percentage.
| Player | Clean sheet % (Lg 1 in 24/25) |
| Arthur Okonkwo | 57.6 |
| Ryan Allsop | 55.3 |
| Will Norris | 50 |
| Will Mannion | 48.3 |
| Murphy Cooper | 43.2 |
Of all the goalkeepers who played five or more games in League One last season, none had a better percentage than Okonkwo.
Now he and Cleworth and everyone else has a great chances to prove themselves in the Championship. And if his 2024/25 season is anything to go by then he’ll have no problems settling in the second tier.