Wrexham find Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney spending claims ‘laughable’ as Phil Parkinson reacts to more ‘overinflated’ transfer fee rumours

The Red Dragons have seen their Hollywood co-owners invest heavily in ambitious projects on and off the pitch. Those funds have helped the local community to thrive, while a historic run of three successive promotions has lifted the Welsh outfit into the Championship.

Recruitment records have been broken along the way, with historic fees paid out for the likes of Ollie Palmer, Ollie Rathbone and Sam Smith. Wrexham are, however, adamant that they have not splashed as much cash as some would have you believe.

Manager Phil Parkinson has told The Leader: “People speculate about what we have paid for players and a lot of it is so overinflated that it is almost laughable at times. Going back a couple of years when people used to quote what we were paying people, quite often it was way off the mark.

“We've operated in a structured way and we think carefully about the players we bring in, in terms of the value for the season coming up and value going forward as assets in the squad. We weigh-up every player carefully and have kept to a structure in terms of the wages as much as we possibly can.”

Wrexham do have another healthy kitty to work with in 2025, ahead of a step up into the second tier of English football, but Parkinson will also be dipping a toe into the free agent pool. He added: “We have brought some great players in for free in the past. Players like George Dobson, James McClean, Matty James, Paul Mullin, Arthur Okonkwo and Mark Howard. There's some interesting free transfers as well.”

Movement in and out of SToK Racecourse is expected this summer, with Parkinson freshening up his ranks. Wrexham’s schedule for 2025-26 - on the back of a pre-season trip to Australia and New Zealand - will be revealed on June 26 when the EFL fixture lists drop.