‘Tall & good-looking’ Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds gets MLS stars as excited as Lionel Messi, says Vancouver Whitecaps captain Ryan Gauld

The Whitecaps recently played host to the Red Dragons during their pre-season tour of North America. Deadpool actor Reynolds was among those in attendance for a game that took place in his hometown. He had split allegiances on the day, with professional ties to Wrexham countered by family links with Vancouver.

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Reynolds made a point of visiting the Whitecaps dressing room before a ball was kicked in anger, with club captain Gauld writing in his column for Nutmeg: “We had Ryan Reynolds in the changing room just before the boys went out for their warm-up recently. I was out injured, by chance, and came in just after he had left. The boys mentioned how tall and good-looking he was. How good his aftershave was. Then I walked in…”

Scottish midfielder Gauld, who followed in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo when linking up with Sporting as a teenager, added on the impact that other famous faces – such as Inter Miami talisman Messi – have had on soccer in the United States: “There’s no doubt that Lionel Messi and the Barcelona boys going to Inter Miami has probably opened a lot of eyes and given the league that extra level of credibility. The league has always had a lot of good, young South American players, for example, but now there are a lot more who are hungry to follow in his footsteps. The publicity around MLS is huge off the back of it.”

Messi has brought more eyes to MLS, despite currently nursing an ankle injury, while Reynolds is one of several celebrities to have invested in football franchises – with the likes of Will Ferrell, Michael B Jordan, Tom Brady, JJ Watt, Eva Longoria and Natalie Portman also involved with clubs around the world.