Wrexham head into the Championship next season full of optimism, but there is one thing the club has to do in the transfer market this summer if they want to make it in the second tier.
So far, under Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds’ stewardship, Wrexham have thrived and have climbed the footballing ladder rapidly.
In fact, the last few years have been far more successful than anyone could have imagined; not even the owners had planned to be winning promotion to the Championship this soon.
Ask any rival fan and they’ll tell you Wrexham have bought promotion, and while that’s not necessarily true, it is hard to deny that the Red Dragons have spent substantially more than most of the teams around them over the last four years.
But, can that continue? Or, more importantly, should it?
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It’s time for Wrexham to use the loan market
Wrexham are in a really strong financial position as things stand. So much so, in fact, that Rob and Ryan could max out a £39m allowance in the summer if they really wanted to, and still be in line with PSR rulings.
But, Wrexham should look at the success of Ipswich Town just a couple of years ago, and take note. The Tractor Boys earned back-to-back promotions in 2022/23 and 2023/24, rising from League One to the Premier League in just two years.
They did it, not by spending big and assembling a world-beating XI, but by recruiting smart, using the loan market to flesh out their squad, and ensuring Kieran McKenna always had options at his disposal.
The likes of Omari Hutchinson, Kieffer Moore, Dane Scarlett, and Brandon Williams all joined Ipswich temporarily throughout that promotion-winning campaign, and they all made a difference in getting them over the line.
Obviously, quality is incredibly important, and as they have done in the past, Wrexham will be shrewd and make sure they sign the right players to fit Phil Parkinson’s team. But, quantity, or more specifically, squad depth, is also crucial to succeeding in the second tier.
There are a whole host of young players Wrexham could loan this summer, and they don’t all have to be outstanding talents who will walk into the first-team; they just have to be good enough to make that squad competitive and give Parkinson something to think about, while also providing cover for yet another long season ahead.
As it stands, the Wrexham squad has brilliant players, but is desperately thin when you compare it to other clubs in the Championship. Bringing in players on loan is a cost-effective, sensible, and very effective way to solve that.
Spending big this summer would be a huge risk for Wrexham
Wrexham are no strangers to spending decent sums of money if they find the right signing, like Sam Smith. Truth be told, they absolutely should do that again this summer if a good opportunity arises, which it surely will.
But, to assemble the kind of squad Wrexham actually need to compete at the top of the Championship, realistically, it could cost them tens of millions of pounds.
Spending that kind of money in their first season back in the second tier for 43 years would be a massive gamble, and not the kind of exciting gamble we like to see, but a really dangerous one.
While Rob McElhenney played down the idea of ‘consolidation’ next season, the pragmatic approach for everyone involved would be to aim to stay up in the Championship first and foremost, and see anything else as a bonus.
Instead of rinsing the budget on players that Wrexham would then be lumbered with for years, loan signings can help the Red Dragons establish themselves in the second tier without the obligation to do anything with those players beyond the 2025/26 campaign.
It’s a win-win for Wrexham; they either get quality players who help them succeed in staying up and/or pushing on for more, or, if the worst case scenario were to unfold and Wrexham did get relegated, they would not have financial burdens hanging over them with multi-million pound signings to worry about.
We’re sure Rob and Ryan will be ambitious in the transfer market, and that’s absolutely fine, but one thing they would never be is foolish. Many won’t like the idea of playing it safe, but it’s time to think shorter-term, just for the next year at least, and focus on stability.