Wrexham are preparing for a busy month of fixtures in both the league and cup after three consecutive wins.
Wrexham head to Northampton Town in League One hopeful of three points and closing the gap on promotion rivals Wycombe Wanderers, who travel to Crawley Town themselves.
Phil Parkinson will rotate his squad in the remainder of the season as he aims for promotion alongside EFL Trophy glory but knows that he will need every player to be fit and ready to contribute.
Owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have provided Parkinson with plenty of options however, one Wrexham expert is worried than one new signing could have an impact on the future of another key player in the Wrexham squad.
Wrexham expert believes Ryan Longman was signed to replace Ryan Barnett in the long term
Speaking on the latest edition of the Rob.Ryan.Red. podcast, journalist Rich Fay has been discussing the signing of Ryan Longman and whether he was acquired with future plans in mind as he may struggle to dislodge Ryan Barnett in the current wing-back role.
Fay stated: “It even maybe gives you a bit of protection in case there was an offer for Barnett this summer then? And then we’ve heard the rumours of interest in the Championship.”
In relation to Barnett potentially leaving the club and Longman stepping in, Fay believes that is a possibility whilst also providing Parkinson with squad depth and competition.
Fay explained: “It works both ways in the sense that a player can’t be undroppable, they need to have competition within the squad but maybe you also need to have competition in case, if a big offer came in for Ryan Barnett, there’s going to have to come a stage where Wrexham do sell some assets.”
Longman needs to learn new position of right wing-back
Speaking on the latest edition of the Rob.Ryan.Red. podcast, journalist Nathan Salt has discussed the positional change for Longman and how he will need to learn the wing-back role just like Barnett did when he first joined the Red Dragons.
Salt stated: “I would argue that Ryan Barnett was a winger when he came in and he was not a wing-back. He’s obviously worked very hard on adding that level of defensive steel to his game but we keep talking about we need more attacking output from these wide areas.”
Barnett has been in excellent form for Wrexham so far this season, leading the League One assists chart with eight. Longman has also impressed since arriving at the Racecourse Ground and has provided three assists in his four appearances so far.
It remains to be seen how Parkinson plans to utilise the pair but he also has to be conscious of the workload of his captain James McClean, who did look jaded in his last appearance against Crawley Town.