Wrexham have a history with Notts County and could rekindle that rivalry on the transfer front in January.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham when they were struggling in the National League.
The Welsh outfit spent 15 years in that division before eventually winning promotion in 2023.
The Red Dragons ended 2022/23 top of the National League with a very impressive 111 points.
Throughout that season, though, Notts County proved to be a real thorn in the side of the club.
The Magpies eventually finished second and won the play-offs but their 107-point tally meant they pushed Wrexham right down to the final few weeks of the campaign.
Notts County beat Wrexham 1-0 in October 2022 with Macaulay Langstaff scoring the only goal of the game.
The club’s rivalry has been well-documented in the ‘Welcome to Wrexham‘ documentary series on Disney +, with McElhenney and Reynolds commenting on Langstaff during it.
Reynolds in Series 2, Episode 12: “God that guy is good. He looks like he could be in Peaky Blinders.”
McElhenney added: “I’m not going to enjoy watching him play.”
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Wrexham should rival Notts County for Premier League star
The rivalry has faded somewhat this season after Wrexham won promotion to League One and Notts County remainder in the fourth tier.
However, the two clubs could now look horns once more, but this time on the transfer front.
According to reports emerging from Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke this week, Notts County want to sign Nottingham Forest forward Joe Gardner on loan for the remainder of the 2024/25 season.
Wrexham are planning to sign a striker in the 2025 winter transfer window and we revealed last month that McElhenney and Reynolds are eyeing new Wrexham relationships with Premier League and Championship teams.
The purpose of these relationships is to allow their club to sign players on loan from higher divisions to aid their promotion push and Gardner would be the perfect target.
How does Joe Gardner compare to Wrexham strikers
The need for a new centre-forward at the Racecourse Ground is pretty evident.
Jack Marriott remains Wrexham’s top scorer with five goals even though he hasn’t stepped on the pitch since early October.
In particular, Paul Mullin is underperforming, with just one League One goal in 17 ahead of the weekend’s action.
Ollie Palmer has three league goals this season while Modou Faal is still yet to get off the mark in the third tier.
Gardner, meanwhile, has four goals and two assists in nine Premier League 2 matches and one goal in three EFL Trophy appearances.
He lacks experience, of course, but he looks to have a lot of potential, and joining a League One team could be the perfect move for him at this stage of his career.
Wrexham will seemingly have to see off Notts County to get a deal done, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue given they are now in a higher division and, on paper, are a much more attractive club.