A number of current Wrexham players could leave the club during the summer of 2025.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have big Wrexham ambitions, looking to get the club into the Premier League for the first time in its history.
They are still some way away from achieving that goal, but there’s no denying the Red Dragons’ rise in the last few years has been remarkable.
After sakcing Dean Keates, they have risen from a National League side who couldn’t make the top-six to competing for automatic promotion from League One in 2024/25.
However, given the level Wrexham are now playing at, it was imperative they strengthened their squad in the summer of 2024.
The Welsh outfit did exactly that, spending big money on the likes of Ollie Rathbone, Dan Scarr and Modou Faal.
But so many incomings did force Wrexham to part ways with a number of previously key players.
Wrexham were hampered by 22-man League One rule
When the now League One outfit released their retained list in May 2024, it was revealed that Ben Tozer, Luke Young, Aaron Hayden, Jordan Tunnicliffe, Callum McFadzean, Dan Davies, Rob Lainton, and Owen Cushion were set to be released.
Young was McElhenney’s favourite player but Wrexham were left with no choice but to part ways with some formerly important stars who were loved.
When discussing why so many players were released at the time, Phil Parkinson explained the Red Dragons had to work within League One’s 22-man squad limit – a rule he claimed not many are aware of, as per GOAL.
He said: “People are not completely aware of that rule. We have got to work towards the 22-man squad and inevitably, the only way we can bring players in is by letting people go.
“The aim has always been to improve what we have got in each transfer window but also maintaining our key players.
“That’s what we will be aiming to do this time. It is going to be an interesting summer, we have got ideas how we would like to see the squad shape up. We will take our time and hopefully get a squad which can be competitive.”
Six Wrexham players who could leave in 2025
Should Wrexham win promotion to the Championship for 2025/26, they will be allowed to increase their squad limit to 25.
However, with the battle for second place so tight and their record in play-off matches dire, there’s still a chance Parkinson’s men don’t go up this season.
But even if they do and have an extra three spaces to play with, there are still a number of players who just aren’t at the level required to compete in the second tier or, if they do stay in League One, to battle for promotion again.
Steven Fletcher and Mark Howard are out of contract in June and it seems unlikely the duo will be offered new deals given their advanced ages.
Will Boyle and Luke Bolton were left out of Wrexham’s 22-man League One squad in February and it would make sense for them to be moved on in the summer to free up some space.
Elsewhere, while likely to upset fans, Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer have become surpluses to requirements in the third tier and should probably be sold in order to sign younger, more in-form strikers, especially if Wrexham go up.