Paul Mullin has become a hero in the eyes of Wrexham fans but before arriving at the Racecourse Ground, his career painted a very different picture.
Wrexham striker Paul Mullin has been on fire since joining the Welsh side in 2021 and he has since become the talisman of Phil Parkinson’s attack, scoring a whopping 79 goals in two seasons.
At 28 years old, Mullin is in the prime of his career, scoring goals for fun and even appearing in TV ads alongside Wrexham owner Ryan Reynolds but the early years of his career were a stark contrast and did not point to the striker becoming the unrelenting force he is today.
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Youthful trials and tribulations
Paul Mullin was born in the Merseyside suburb of Litherland and began his football career in the youth setup at Everton before changing allegiances and joining the academy of fierce rivals, Liverpool.
The young striker played in the same under-16s side as Raheem Sterling but ultimately never appeared professionally for either Merseyside club.
After a month-long trial with Spanish outfit Racing Santander, Mullin made the switch to Yorkshire and joined Huddersfield Town in 2012 at the age of 17.
Mullin appeared in a number of under-18 and under-21 matches during his stay with the Terriers but again, never played for the first team.
Instead, the youngster was loaned out to semi-professional Merseyside club, Vauxhall Motors, before being released in 2014.
A so-so start to Mullin’s career
In August 2014, 19-year-old Paul Mullin joined Lancashire side Morecambe where he made his professional debut in League Two and burst onto the scene, scoring three goals in his first seven matches and earning a new contract in the process.
However, after his early goalscoring form, Mullin failed to find the net in his next 11 games, and went on to score just five more times, bringing his goal tally for his first full season to eight.
Mullin posted respectable but unremarkable totals in the following two campaigns, reaching 10 goals in both league and cup in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons.
Swindon Town then came calling and signed Mullin for an undisclosed fee in 2017, although goals were still hard to come by following the move, with Mullin netting 10 times in 47 games, which eventually led to the striker departing after just one season.
In June 2018, Mullin returned to Merseyside to play for Tranmere Rovers and earned promotion to League One in his first season but after scoring 12 goals in 56 appearances, the striker was loaned out to Cambridge United in January 2020, going on to score twice in six games before the season ended prematurely thanks to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shooting for the stars: Paul Mullin to Wrexham
Paul Mullin signed permanently for Cambridge ahead of the 2020/21 campaign, a season that would prove instrumental in completely changing the fortunes of his career.
Mullin came racing out of the blocks and after just 10 games, he had scored 11 goals. His incredible form continued in a promotion-winning season as he went on to score 32 goals in 46 League Two matches, a record for the division since its restructuring in 2004.
Understandably, Mullin’s eyewatering goal tally earned him the attention of several teams throughout the EFL but he would ultimately decide on dropping down two divisions from League One to the National League where he became a statement signing for Wrexham following their takeover at the hands of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
The rest, they say, is history as ‘Super Paul Mullin’ has become a hero for the Welsh side, scoring a scarcely believable 79 goals in 97 appearances and helping to secure Wrexham’s long-awaited promotion back to the Football League for the first time since 2008.
Wrexham fans will be seeing a lot more of Paul Mullin, too, as the striker signed a contract extension with the club that will keep him at the Racecourse Ground until the summer of 2026.
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In other news: Latest odds have Wrexham as favourites to win League Two next season