Wrexham are looking to add to their striker ranks during the 2025 winter transfer window.
With 25 games of the League One season gone, none of the Red Dragons’ current strikers have scored more than five league goals.
Wrexham have still been able to mount a solid push for automatic promotion this season and are only behind second place via goal difference at present.
But with rivals Huddersfield Town spending well, it’s imperative Phil Parkinson and co. get a solid goalscorer in this month.
A couple of new names have been linked with the club this week, with Wrexham eyeing Jayden Danns of Liverpool.
Meanwhile, they could once again move for a summer transfer target, with the Red Dragons looking at Michael Smith of Sheffield Wednesday once more this winter.
Michael Smith 2024/25 season assessed
Smith is currently earning £17,500-a-week with the Owls, according to Capology, and is now in the final six months of his contract.
However, he’s still having a great 2024/25, finding the net five times and assisting four in 25 Championship matches.
Now, The Wrexham Insider have spoken to Sheffield Wednesday expert Luke Phelps to get the lowdown on the Red Dragons’ target.
On how Smith has fared this season so far, Phelps told us: “Michael Smith is always a divisive player. But this season he’s been a key man for the Owls. He’s defied his critics with some really impressive performances and some really important goals and assists too.
“He really wasn’t favoured at all by Rohl last season. But I think the German has now realised the impact that a big striker like Smith, who can not only hold up play but work the backline, can have in the Championship.
“I’d say Smith is having his best season in a long time.”
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Wrexham told Michael Smith’s biggest strengthens and weaknesses
Taking a deeper look into the 33-year-old, we asked Phelps what the Wrexham target’s biggest strengths and weaknesses are.
On his strengths, Phelps said: “Smith’s biggest strength, I’d say, is that he’s an all-round striker. Many would look at Smith and simply assume that he’s just a target man who’s only good for lumping the ball up to, holding up the play, and so on.
“But he’s proved this season that he’s got much more than that. Look at his goal against Portsmouth for example. He’s got technical ability in his feet as well as being an aerial presence, and not too many strikers in the league can say that.”
Speaking on Smith’s weaknesses, he added: “I think Smith sometimes lacks confidence. He seems like one of those strikers who thrives on it and when it’s not going his way, his head seems to drop, and he starts making silly mistakes.
“That sort of ties into consistency too. I’d love to see him at his best every game: if he was, he’d be right up there in the Championship top scorer charts.”
Michael Smith may not suit Wrexham system
Since Phil Parkinson arrived at the club, Wrexham have largely deployed a two-man strike force.
This is not something Smith plays in too often and when speaking to Phelps about this, he suggested the Sheffield Wednesday star was better suited to systems that deploy just one number nine.
He stated: “Smith can play as either a lone striker or as one of a two. In my opinion, though, he’s best as a lone striker.
Smith thrives off crosses into the box and people playing the ball into him, and then running off him. When Smith has another striker next to him, he becomes a bit of a passenger and the game passes him by.
“There’s not enough service when there’s another player next to him. That, and Smith isn’t the fastest player, so he’s not going to burst past defensive lines.
“Although if Wrexham play a pacy striker next to him, it could work in a sort of Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch-type partnership. But Smith in my opinion is much better-suited to a 4-2-3-1 or a 5-2-2-1 formation, which is what Wednesday have chopped and changed between.