Wrexham will be without one of Phil Parkinson’s previously key players for their Championship clash against Southampton.
The Red Dragons are playing out their final pre-season friendlies of the summer on August 2, a week before the Championship season starts.
Wrexham travel to Southampton next Saturday, clashing with the former Premier League outfit in a 12:30pm BST kick-off.
Ben Foster has issued his prediction for the game, which could prove to be one of the toughest tests the Dragons face all season.
Now, it’s been confirmed that one player will not be featuring for Wrexham against the Saints.
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Phil Parkinson says Wrexham player out of Southampton fixture
Wrexham ended the 2024/25 season with Jay Rodriguez and Sam Smith as their starting strikers.
Despite fan backlash towards Rodriguez, Phil Parkinson played him in every league fixture following his arrival in the winter transfer window.
But the former Burnley man was actually playing with an injury during the Dragons’ promotion run-in.
And the Wrexham manager confirmed on Friday that Rodriguez is in a boot for a couple of weeks due to a stress fracture.
He said: “Jay, really feel for him. He was playing with an injury towards the end the last few games of the [202425] season, and he came back in the pre-season, and it was still concerning him.
“We’ve subsequently found he’s got a stress fracture, so he’s in a boot for a couple of weeks, then we’re going to assess that after that.
“So frustrating for him because no player wants to miss pre-season, but it is obviously a setback.”
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Wrexham close in on striker signings
The Welsh powerhouse have already signed one centre-forward this summer in the form of Ryan Hardie.
However, Nathan Broadhead is expected to join in a £7.5m deal from Ipswich Town, which will see the club smash their transfer record yet again.
As well as Broadhead, Wrexham are ready to pay £2m for Kieffer Moore of Sheffield United.
It means Parkinson, despite letting Paul Mullin, Sam Dalby and Steven Fletcher go, will once again have an inflated striker department going into the new season.
But as we already confirmed, Wrexham have offered Ollie Palmer to multiple teams this summer.