Wrexham are yet to bring in a January signing but Phil Parkinson has decided to allow one player to leave the club for good.
Wrexham remain in the League One promotion hunt but Thursday’s defeat to Shrewsbury Town was an enormous blow.
Losing a derby is never great but Wrexham’s flat, toothless and uninspired performance at Croud Meadow has sparked concerns.
Wrexham have been poor away from home throughout the season and Thursday’s loss was another poor showing.
Signings are needed if Wrexham are to win automatic promotion and fans are desperate to see new arrivals.
Phil Parkinson seemingly doesn’t see imminent additions but he has at least allowed one of his most disappointing signings to leave the club.
Billy Waters leaves Wrexham for Oldham Athletic
Wrexham have announced the departure of Billy Waters with the forward leaving the club by mutual consent ahead of signing for Oldham Athletic.
Waters returned to Wrexham last week after his Halifax Town loan deal came to an end, but few expected him to actually feature.
The 30-year-old would have ruled out a move elsewhere if he had played for Wrexham, which wasn’t exactly a strong possibility.
Wrexham have done some exceptional work in the transfer market but it’s fair to say that Waters may have been the biggest miss so far.
Waters joined Wrexham from Barrow in 2023 having found some great goalscoring form.
The forward hit 17 goals in 44 league games for Halifax Town before scoring nine times in 32 league games for Barrow.
Wrexham landed Waters in the push towards promotion from the National League but his career at the STōK Cae Ras just never took off.
Waters has remarkably made just four league appearances for Wrexham and spent the second half of last season on loan at Doncaster Rovers.
Wrexham even helped Halifax sign Waters on loan, seemingly desperate to move him out of the club.
Waters has become a rare case of a Wrexham signing in the Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds era who has simply made no impact at all.
Maybe some signings haven’t lived up to expectations but in Waters’ case, we have barely even seen him in action.
A permanent exit is the best move for all and Waters will sadly go down as arguably the most disappointing signing of this era.
Wrexham have enjoyed a strong transfer hit rate
Waters stands out because Wrexham’s hit rate in the transfer market has been pretty strong under Parkinson.
Look through the signings from Parkinson’s first season and you will find the likes of Paul Mullin, James Jones, Ollie Palmer and Thomas O’Connor, as well as Ben Tozer.
Elliot Lee, Jacob Mendy, Andy Cannon, Eoghan O’Connell and Ryan Barnett arrived either before or during the 2022-23 campaign.
James McClean, George Evans and Steven Fletcher played their part in last season’s promotion whilst Jack Marriott has now become a key man.
Arthur Okonkwo, George Dobson and Ollie Rathbone have become key players too and Parkinson has largely spent McElhenney and Reynolds’ money well.
It’s unclear just how much Wrexham spent on Waters but the move simply didn’t work out for anybody involved – and Parkinson will hope to avoid such outcomes in the future.