Wrexham are hoping to see young players emerge in the first team and ultimately prevent future misses from the local area.
We have loved watching Wrexham rise through the leagues with great impact from experienced performers such as Ollie Palmer, Elliot Lee and Paul Mullin.
All fans love seeing young talent emerge through the ranks though and Wrexham have missed out on some local talent over the years.
Mark Hughes was born in nearby Ruabon but never turned out for Wrexham, instead being picked up by Manchester United as a teenager.
Robbie Savage hails from Wrexham but the closest he came to playing for the club was turning out for Lex XI in Wrexham.
Max Cleworth is shining this season whilst teenager Harry Ashfield has been praised by Phil Parkinson, leaving Wrexham with hope of more talents to come.
Others have slipped through the net though with two current Welsh internationals – as well as the injured Harry Wilson – evading Wrexham at a young age.
Humphrey Ker pointed out Wrexham locals Tom Lawrence and Neco Williams miss
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds not only want to invest in new signings but also in the long-term future of Wrexham.
That means stadium and training ground improvements as well as youth development will be crucial aspects of the club’s growth in the coming years.
As quoted by The Athletic, Humphrey Ker suggested in 2023 that Wrexham had missed out on Wilson, Neco Williams and Tom Lawrence as the club just didn’t have the infrastructure to support them.
Ker vowed that this situation ‘will change’ in the future with Wrexham confident that top talents in North Wales will now want to sign for Wrexham moving forward.
“Ever since the takeover of the football club, Rob and Ryan have been clear in their ambition to build a sustainable model for success, as well as reinforcing the legacies and traditions of Wrexham,” said Ker.
“As a club, we’ve missed out on the opportunity to sign lots of local talent, including the likes of Neco Williams, Harry Wilson and Tom Lawrence, as we’ve not had the infrastructure to support their development going forward. This will now change. We have ambitious and exciting plans to build an infrastructure capable of nurturing north Wales’ finest talents,” he added.
Wilson and Williams joined Liverpool as kids whilst Lawrence was snapped up by the Manchester United academy.
Williams and Lawrence are in the Wales squad right now and will be in contention to feature against Kazakhstan and North Macedonia in this international period.
Williams is now shining in the Premier League for Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest whilst Lawrence is a Europa League quarter-finalist with Rangers.
This just goes to show the calibre of player Wrexham were unable to land despite being right on the doorstep with both players hailing from Wrexham.
Wrexham have certainly become a more appealing proposition in recent years but youth infrastructure is still so important when talents are choosing their club.
Competing with Liverpool and Manchester United will never be easy but Wrexham now have much more of a fighting chance than in years gone by – and that chance may only rise as the club continue to invest from top to bottom.
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Humphrey Ker still hopes Neco Williams joins Wrexham
Wrexham missed out on Williams and Lawrence with the duo going on to become quality players.
The hope is that Wrexham can avoid such misses in the future, but Ker may still hold out hope of Williams arriving one day.
Speaking in 2024, Ker admitted that Williams would be his dream Wrexham signing down the line.
The right back is well out of Wrexham’s range right now with Forest paying £17million to sign Williams from Liverpool in 2022, as noted by BBC Sport.
Williams is just 23 as well and may be out of Wrexham’s range for many years yet.
This Wrexham project has already brought some incredible signings and we would not be surprised at all to see Williams don the famous red shirt one day – just in the rather distant future.