Paul Mullin has started his pre-season preparations with Wigan Athletic, after leaving Wrexham on loan for the 2025/26 season. But it’s a decision that already looks to be a hasty one from Phil Parkinson.
Paul Mullin looked nailed on to leave this summer. He fell painfully out of favour under Phil Parkinson in the second half of last season, and the Wrexham man seemed to have quite a few options going into this summer.
In the end, Mullin joined Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan. Since, Mullin and Wigan Athletic have started pre-season abroad in Spain, whilst the Dragons are down under in Australia and next, New Zealand.
But on Tuesday, Wrexham lost 2-1 against Sydney FC. The defeat has sparked a bit of worry among fans about the state of the squad going into next season, and there’s more fear brewing with injuries in the attacking department.
Phil Parkinson reveals Wrexham injuries but insists it’s ‘nothing major’
For the game against Sydney, there were a few notable absentees, especially in attack with Sam Smith, Ryan Hardie and Mo Faal all missing. On top of that, Jay Rodriguez picked up a knock whilst Ollie Rathbone had to go to hospital for an x-ray, having picked up a nasty-looking ankle injury during the Sydney FC game.
Speaking after the defeat, Parkinson revealed that Smith has an injury, hence why he’s yet to feature this summer. But the club record signing from Reading remains behind the likes of Hardie and Faal who could both play against Wellington Phoenix on the 19th.
Parkinson said: “We’ve got a few other injury concerns. Nothing major. You know, Jay Rodriguez obviously hadn’t played previously. Had a problem with his foot and he was still feeling it. So we need to assess that quickly.
“Hopefully get Ryan Hardie, Mo Faal close to being selected for the weekend because those two need some minutes. Sam Smith’s still a bit behind that. We’ll just see how everybody is tomorrow.”
Can Wrexham recall Paul Mullin from Wigan Athletic?
Even before going to Australia, Wrexham’s squad looked thin. Now with a flurry of injuries, and a potentially big one for Rathbone, the squad all of a sudden looks very poor and lacking in attacking quality, with the season opener against Southampton now just three weeks away.
So the decision to send Mullin out on loan may now look a bit hasty. But at the start of the summer, Parkinson said Mullin would begin pre-season preparations with Wrexham, so why he ended up leaving so soon into the window remains to be seen.
Thankfully, Wrexham have a recall option in Mullin’s loan deal which means he could be called back to the Racecourse in January: if he proved prolific with Wigan and Wrexham are struggling for goals then the 30-year-old could easily return.
But expect Parkinson to now bring in at least one more striker this summer, with plenty of other signings needed to give the Dragons a chance next time round.