Wrexham’s summer transfer window has made steady progress in the last week, capped with the signing of Lewis O’Brien from Nottingham Forest.
Wrexham have signed Lewis O’Brien in a club record deal. It is thought that the deal cost £5m, which takes Wrexham’s summer spending tally close to the £10m mark.
It comes after Wrexham paid a £4m fee to sign Liberato Cacace, as well as £700,000 to sign Ryan Hardie from Plymouth Argyle.
And it doesn’t look like Phil Parkinson’s side will stop there with reports that Wrexham will spend £10m on a new striker alone in what is left of the summer transfer window.
But it is in attack where the bodies are quickly piling up for Wrexham. Already, the club has eight first-team strikers on the books, and with the Championship only allowing for a 25-man squad, there is bound to be some quick-fire player sales in the coming weeks at the Racecourse.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac could pay off Wrexham players this summer
A rather worrying report from The Athletic has now revealed that a sizable clearout is inevitable at Wrexham ahead of the summer transfer window closing on September 1st. Despite the exits of several players including Paul Mullin, Wrexham still have 30 first-team players on their books, whilst only 25 can be registered in the Championship going into next season.
That means that several fringe players could be moved on in the very near future, with Wrexham still looking to sign new players themselves. But The Athletic report that, because Wrexham pay their players generally quite well, and that promotion to the Championship likely resulted in a pay rise for many, it could be difficult for the club to offload players.
In turn, The Athletic report that Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac could even pay some fringe players to leave this summer. Alternatively, Richard Sutcliffe adds that ‘others may strike deals on transfer fees to allow the purchasing club to offer wages more on par with that with what Wrexham pay as a Championship club’, meaning that some players could leave for quite cheap, but the buying club then in turn pays a somewhat hidden transfer fee with higher wages for the player.
The Wrexham fringe players who could be paid off
Expect Parkinson to pick at the attacking department this summer when looking for players to move on. Perhaps the most inevitable name is Ollie Palmer. Palmer impressed earlier in pre-season but remains well down the pecking order, especially after the arrival of Josh Windass.
He, along with Jake Bickerstaff, look like two attackers who will undoubtedly be moved on this summer. Then in the central midfield department, we could see some player exits. After the arrivals of O’Brien and George Thomason, Andy Cannon looks like one who could leave Wrexham, potentially along with George Evans, depending on whether Parkinson wants to sign another central midfielder this summer.
We could also see some players moved on from defence too: Jacob Mendy has been tipped to leave Wrexham. But who else joins him out the exit door to take the tally up to five remains to be seen. Sebastian Revan could be one after his disappointing 2024/25 season.
On the whole, it’s a nice problem for Parkinson to have. He now has a rapidly improving squad with more star quality looking set to arrive this summer, but he’ll no doubt have to have some difficult conversations with some previously important players like Palmer this summer.