Wrexham raided Blackburn Rovers on deadline day with a late deal to snap up defender Dominic Hyam in a £2.7million swoop.
Many of Wrexham’s 13 summer signings have major Championship experience and Dominic Hyam is certainly one of them.
The Scottish defender has been a Championship regular with Coventry City and Blackburn, but has now joined the Wrexham journey.
Hyam’s arrival has seen Eoghan O’Connell leave Wrexham, and the 29-year-old should play an important role at the STōK Cae Ras.
Blackburn Rovers chief on Dominic Hyam to Wrexham
The deal has not gone down well at Blackburn, though.
Wrexham paid £2.7million to sign Hyam, who had just one year left on his contract at Ewood Park.
Hyam’s exit has been considered a huge blow for Rovers, and their head of football operations Rudy Gestede has commented on the deal.
Speaking on Blackburn’s official YouTube channel, Gestede noted that Wrexham’s move for Hyam came very late in the window.
Gestede already knew that he had to consider selling Hyam if an offer arrived, given his age and contract situation.
Gestede added that Hyam wanted to leave for Wrexham and his desire to leave left Blackburn to accept his exit.
“It’s always an opportunity for someone else to come in behind,” said Gestede. “Dom Hyam came late in the transfer window, but we knew before transfer window that if something came up, we ought to discuss it and Wrexham came and the player wanted to leave, wanted to join Wrexham. So we found the right valuation for the club and then we made the deal,” he added.
Valerien Ismael on selling Dominic Hyam to Wrexham
Manager Valerien Ismael also shared his view on Hyam’s exit, claiming that Wrexham initially failed with two bids for the defender.
Blackburn stood firm and set a ‘high price’ for Hyam’s signature, believing that Wrexham would back off.
Instead, Wrexham forced through a deal and Rovers simply couldn’t say no, given that Hyam could have left for nothing next summer.
Ismael added that Rovers didn’t expect to sell Hyam on deadline day, but Wrexham ‘absolutely’ wanted to secure his signature and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“With Dom’s situation as well, for people to understand, we turned down two offers, so we were not willing to to sell him,” said Ismael.
“On the Sunday, we had a lot of discussion, but at some point, we asked for a high price to say ‘okay, they won’t come back’, but they came back and at some point, if the price is that high, you have to explain to the owner as well why you want to turn down that kind of offer for a 30-year-old player, one year left on the contract, with maybe the possibility to leave for free in the next summer.
“But now, you can have a big amount of money. We didn’t expect it, and that’s why, at the end, we had to do the deal. But we turned two offers, and they were already high, but in the end, Wrexham wanted, absolutely, to get the deal done,” he added.
Hyam has been on international duty with Scotland, but could now make his Wrexham debut against Queens Park Rangers this weekend.