Wrexham are searching for summer signing number three, with Phil Parkinson potentially eyeing another right-sided wing-back.
Wrexham beat Melbourne Victory 3-0 on Friday to start pre-season in style, and Phil Parkinson’s attention now turns to facing Sydney FC on Tuesday.
Parkinson is also working on transfers behind the scenes, with new signings wanted ahead of the Championship kick-off.
Wrexham start against Southampton in less than a month, and Parkinson will certainly hope to have new faces on board before that clash.
Reports last week suggested that Wrexham are interested in signing Callum Brittain from Blackburn Rovers, alongside Derby County and Middlesbrough.
Wrexham only signed Ryan Longman in January and still have Ryan Barnett at Parkinson’s disposal, so that rumour prompted some surprised reactions.
Wrexham target Callum Brittain wants Blackburn Rovers exit
Brittain is now inside the final year of his Rovers contract and seemingly wants to leave Ewood Park.
The 27-year-old was not involved as Rovers beat Accrington Stanley on Saturday afternoon.
Blackburn boss Valerian Ismael has told the Lancashire Telegraph that Brittain pulled himself out of the squad.
Ismael confirmed that an offer is now on the table for Brittain’s signature, but wouldn’t confirm who had made that bid.
The Rovers boss added that he doesn’t want the situation around Brittain to continue indefinitely and hopes for clarity on a potential transfer this week.
Ismael accepts that Rovers may need to sell Brittain before he leaves for nothing next year, believing that it makes financial sense to cash in if the offer is right.
“We’ve got an offer on the table. Callum decided not to play today on his own,” said Ismael. “He took this decision. So I spoke with him. I said we can let this game pass, but from next week, we hope to have clarity.
“We can’t do this every week. In the next few days, we will see what is happening. It’s clear that some clubs are very interested, especially one that is very interested in Callum. Nothing has been agreed yet.
“The clubs need to understand that Callum is a significant player for us, for me personally as well. So we don’t want to let him go. But it’s clear that, financially, the club needs to make a deal because of his contract.
“If the players still have a one-year contract, we have to learn from the situation, what’s happened with Tyrhys Dolan. Now we’re chasing the situation after mistakes from the past,” he added.
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Wrexham may trail Middlesbrough in Callum Brittain race
Brittain’s refusal to play for Rovers will not have gone unnoticed by Wrexham and Parkinson.
Some may not love the idea of a player refusing to play in order to try and secure a move, especially in terms of Parkinson finding the right characters for Wrexham.
Brittain certainly won’t have wanted to risk missing out on a move because of an injury picked up in a pre-season game, though, and Wrexham are surely still weighing up his situation.
The Lancashire Telegraph note that Middlesbrough are currently ‘winning the race’ for Brittain, and The Sun’s Alan Nixon claims that Boro have tabled a £2.5million offer.
Boro certainly seem to be the club Ismael was referring to, meaning Wrexham will have to come up with a strong offer to beat Rob Edwards to Brittain’s signature.
Wrexham spending around £3million on another right wing-back would be a surprise, but Parkinson may look to use Longman in different areas and bring Brittain’s considerable Championship experience to the STōK Cae Ras.