This week is set to be a very big one for Wrexham as Phil Parkinson makes some early decisions on his squad for the 2025/26 Championship season.
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson has his work cut out this summer. He’s got a whole makeover to do to his side with the step up to the Championship set to be his biggest challenge at the Racecourse yet.
Three-straight promotions for Wrexham has landed them in the Championship. With each new division they’ve made the step up but now competing with some very wealthy and established teams, many with recent Premier League funding, will be tough.
Expect Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to spend well. In the January transfer window Wrexham broke their club record signing with the £2million deal for Sam Smith and it seems likely that deal will be broken this summer.
But Parkinson will surely target free transfers at Wrexham as well. He also has several Wrexham players out of contract in the summer to make key decisions on.
EFL deadline approaches as Wrexham face Eoghan O’Connell decision
Among those out of contract at the Racecourse is Eoghan O’Connell. The centre-back missed the run-in through injury but played a key part in the campaign nonetheless, featuring 39 times in League One and being named as Humphrey Ker’s Wrexham Player of the Season.
Ollie Rathbone won the actual award. But O’Connell would’ve gotten many votes. Now, Parkinson has just a few days left to inform the O’Connell of whether or not O’Connell will be handed a new contract by the club going into the 2025/26 season.
Per EFL rules, clubs not competing in the play-offs have until May 17th to inform their out of contract players whether or not they’ll be handed a new contract for the following campaign. Others out of contract include Steven Fletcher, Josh Adam, and goalkeepers Mark Howard, Liam Hall, and Bradley Foster.
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Ryan Reynolds’ praise for Eoghan O’Connell at Wrexham
Ker and the Wrexham fans love O’Connell and so too does co-owner Ryan Reynolds. He appeared in a recent interview and he was asked to name the player he thinks doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves.
And Reynolds said O’Connell is an underrated Wrexham player saying: “Eoghan O’Connell, boy, that guy has got it.”
A new deal for O’Connell may be a formality. Parkinson would surely want to keep him after his impressive 2024/25 season and O’Connell would surely want to stay and help the team in the Championship next season.
But if there are any disagreements or complications then they need to be ironed out fast with the May 17th deadline just around the corner.