Wrexham were busy over the summer transfer window but Phil Parkinson may feel that his first signings was his best.
Wrexham pulled off a remarkable achievement by securing back-to-back promotions under Phil Parkinson.
Moving from the National League to League One at such rapid speed meant Wrexham had to invest in summer signings.
Wrexham spent around £2million on new additions as Parkinson bolstered his squad with eight summer additions.
Three more have arrived as free agents with Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds continuing to back Parkinson in the market.
The results have been great so far; Wrexham sit second in the League One table and Reynolds is dreaming of another promotion.
Arthur Okonkwo backing up Mikel Arteta praise
Wrexham bolstered Parkinson’s squad but you could certainly argue that the first addition of the summer was the most impressive and most important.
Goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo joined Wrexham permanently having spent the season on loan from Arsenal.
Okonkwo was outstanding in League Two last season and Andy Morrell doubted that Wrexham would be able to re-sign Okonkwo permanently.
Wrexham got the deal done though and Parkinson has praised McElhenney and Reynolds for signing Okonkwo.
Okonkwo has been superb this season too and he is really living up to the praise given to him by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
Speaking on Arsenal’s official website back in 2021, Arteta suggested that Okonkwo has ‘huge talent’ and ‘great potential’ in his game.
Arteta believed that Okonkwo deserved to be around the Arsenal first team, backing him for a big future at the club.
First-team chances never materialised but Arteta saw talent in Okonkwo – and Wrexham are now reaping the rewards.
“We welcome Arthur to the first-team squad. We are so happy another academy player has come through our system at the club,” said Arteta.
“Together with Arthur’s huge talent and hard work, we thank our colleagues at the academy for developing Arthur in recent years to get to this stage, they are doing great work with the players’ development here and should be really proud.
“Arthur was working and travelling a lot with the first team last season and we have all seen his quality at first hand. He is a strong young goalkeeper with great potential and we’re so pleased he has signed a new deal. He has absolutely earned his place in the first-team squad.
“Arthur will now join us every single day in training, where we look forward to watching him continue to develop and improve his goalkeeping. I know all our fans will join me in congratulating Arthur on this positive step in his career,” he added.
More to come for Okonkwo
We can already say that Okonkwo is far beyond a League One player.
Okonkwo could easily play at Championship level right now and Wrexham fans may even see some Premier League goalkeepers in action and believe that they aren’t too far ahead of Okonkwo.
Parkinson has backed Okonkwo for the very top, believing that his potential can see him become a real superstar in the coming years.
That development will hopefully come with Wrexham but we have to be realistic; other clubs are no doubt watching Okonkwo’s brilliance.
Okonkwo is weighing up representing Nigeria at international level but his club future seems secure for a while – and Wrexham will be very, very pleased with that as Okonkwo continues to shine.