Wrexham have seen a vast improvement to their recruitment in recent years, but one signing would have been disastrous.
In the last year, Wrexham have signed 15 different players, several of which arrived as free agents at the back end of 2024.
The Red Dragons’ ability to sign quality talent, for the most part, is high, with a number of players who arrived in the most recent summer and winter windows excelling.
Ryan Longman has been superb for Wrexham in his limited outings to date, already providing three assists.
Ollie Rathbone is getting better and better after the club sanctioned what was, at the time, a record transfer for the midfielder over the summer.
However, there have been a couple of questionable transfer decisions made which include Sebastian Revan struggling at Wrexham.
But there was one deal that Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds should be glad they didn’t manage to get over the line.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds wanted Gareth Bale to join Wrexham
Gareth Bale is one of the most successful players to ever come out of Wales, cementing himself as a club legend at Real Madrid.
The winger won a staggering five Champions Leagues during his time with Los Blancos while scoring a total of 185 goals and providing 132 assists throughout his playing career.
In turn, it didn’t come as too much of a surprise when it was claimed Wrexham’s owners had made him an offer.
As per the Independent in April 2023, Bale turned down Reynolds’ plea to come out of retirement for them.
A year later, McElhenney commented on signing Bale, confirming the offer was still on the table.
He said: “Gareth Bale is still technically available! I made the plea last year and I’m just going to tell Gareth that the offer is still on the table.
“We’ll let him play golf whenever he wants. Just as long he comes training and we’ll figure out how to get him in the team.”
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds signing Gareth Bale would have broken Wrexham promise
The glitz and glamour associated with snapping up a talent like Bale is obviously appealing to the Hollywood duo.
But the addition of the ex-Real Madrid superstar would have broken a promise Rob and Ryan made to Wrexham fans four years ago.
When attempting to buy the club, they made ‘hard promises’ to the fans, as per The Athletic.
One of those promises was to ‘provide comprehensive financial support for the manager and his coaching team. Build a sustainable model which will attract the best players and best staff to The Racecourse Ground.‘
While Bale certainly would have been a great player, his addition would have gone against the ‘sustainable model’ McElhenney and Reynolds said they were looking to build.
Even if he took a big wage cut, the fees involved in signing a player of his caliber would have been enormous and completely destroyed Wrexham’s wage structure.