Bad news for Ryan Hardie as Phil Parkinson’s latest Wrexham plans are revealed

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Ryan Hardie was the first player to sign for Wrexham earlier this summer, joining in a £700,000 deal from relegated Plymouth Argyle.

Ryan Hardie scored 10 goals in the Championship for Plymouth Argyle last season. He then became hot property going into the summer transfer window and it was Wrexham who eventually signed the Scottish striker.

Wrexham have signed Hardie on a three-year contract and he was the first of seven summer arrivals so far at the Racecourse, with Phil Parkinson looking as though he’s set to make some more new signings in the very near future.

Specifically, Wrexham are targeting a number of strikers. On Tuesday evening, it was revealed that Wrexham are plotting a £7.5million move for Nathan Broadhead at Ipswich Town whilst links to Kieffer Moor are ongoing.

It inflates what is already an oversized striker department at Wrexham. Subsequently, it has been revealed that Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac could pay off some players this summer in a bid to trim down the squad size, with only 25 players allowed to be registered in the Championship next season.

• READ MORE: Wrexham fans say Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac’s latest move is a ‘huge statement’, they’re buzzing

Ryan Hardie may not like the Wrexham striker influx this summer

When Hardie signed, it looked from the outside that he would be at least one of the first two striker choices for Parkinson going into next season. He scored 22 Championship goals across the last two seasons with Plymouth and arrived as a bit of a marquee signing, though that has since been blown out of the water with the arrivals of Liberato Cacace, and Lewis O’Brien, who cost nearly £10m combined.

Then, with Broadhead potentially set to arrive, along with more, it begs the question of why Wrexham signed Hardie and why they keep on signing more and more strikers, especially with Josh Windass in the ranks.

Windass scored 13 goals last season, and when he arrived it looked like he would be the main striker option going into next season. Then there’s also Sam Smith to think about. Wrexham broke their club transfer record to sign Smith last January in a £2m deal, and he impressed in the second half of last season. Jay Rodriguez also joined in the same window.

With all these strikers, most may be wondering where they stand in the pecking order. But of Windass and the potential signings of Broadhead and more, it feels as though Hardie is somewhere near back of the pecking order.

• READ MORE: Wrexham fans say Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac’s latest move is a ‘huge statement’, they’re buzzing

Wrexham’s striker pecking order goes like this…

Wrexham certainly have a wealth of strikers as it is, and if Broadhead and Moore now arrive with, both players already looking likely to join Wrexham this summer, then it’ll give Parkinson a nice array of options. But it might not be preferable for those individuals in the team.

Expect Ollie Palmer to leave Wrexham this summer along with Jake Bickerstaff. That will leave Hardie, Windass, Smith and potentially Broadhead and Moore. Assuming the latter two arrive, it may be hard to argue that Hardie is last in the pecking order.

He may have the least experience of the five strikers with the likes of Moore and Windass in particular proven in the Championship. Smith meanwhile has already proven that he fits the Wrexham system and that he can score goals for the club, potentially putting him above Hardie in the pecking order.

Hardie has already scored his first goal for Wrexham in a pre-season friendly against Melbourne Victory earlier in the summer, but it’s hard to envision a Wrexham team next season where Hardie starts regularly, and that includes Broadhead and Moore.

It may even be difficult to imagine Hardie playing all that much football next season providing Parkinson sticks with a somewhat lone striker role with a striker playing in behind him.

Rodriguez seems to be steadily slipping out of the picture and if that number 10 spot is something Parkinson sticks with then that might be filled with Windass. But even then there will be Smith, Broadhead, Moore and Hardie all battling for that lone striker role.

All four may be capable of playing that deeper striker role and Parkinson may yet have a plan to either change his formation or rotate heavily to keep all strikers involved and happy.

But right now the likes of Hardie may be wondering whether he’ll play all that much football next season.