Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenny & Wrexham warned of £2m mistake - with Hollywood co-owners told they are breaking transfer record on the wrong striker

The Red Dragons are expected to smash their recruitment record before the winter window closes for business. The Welsh outfit have been linked with several forwards, but appear to have settled on Reading frontman Sam Smith.

He will come with a seven-figure price tag despite having never previously managed more than 15 goals in any given League One campaign. Questions are being asked of whether the 26-year-old is right for an ambitious project at SToK Racecourse.

Former EFL player and coach Carlton Palmer has told Football League World: "Wrexham are looking at bringing in some extra firepower; I know they have a lot of strikers but they have been struggling to find the back of the net regularly, so they are looking at bringing in the firepower that could fire them to promotion. They have turned their attention to Reading FC striker Sam Smith; he has regularly performed well in League One, but only twice has he ever hit 15 league goals in a season.

"Wrexham are probably thinking that if he can get them 10 goals between now and the end of the season that would get them up. I don’t think it would be a good signing, I really don’t. He is not prolific in League One - he is not a 20-goal-a-season man - and even when he played in League Two he wasn’t prolific either."

Wrexham were being linked with Sheffield Wednesday star Michael Smith before collective focus switched to a man with the same surname, and Palmer believes a raid on Hillsborough makes more sense. The ex-Owls midfielder added: "Your priority is to get promotion, and if they feel that Sam Smith can fire them the goals to get them promotion, then that is fair enough. I suppose as the window gets later and they haven’t done any business, this is where it ends up, but for me, I don’t think he is any better than what they already have got in the building, you have just got to hope that the one already in the building start firing and get goals. The problem is when you step up divisions, as Wrexham have found and kept the players they have, it is whether they carry through the threat.

"Sam Smith is under contract for another two years at Reading, so they are going to have to pay good money for him. I know this season he has got 11 goals and two assists, but I am not so sure that he is going to come in and do the business. Jack Marriott scored five in his first 10 games, and is just coming back from a broken leg, Steven Fletcher has six, while Paul Mullin, Ollie Palmer and Mo Faal have not found their form.

"I can see why Wrexham are in the hunt for a striker, but I think they would be better off getting Michael Smith. I know they are trying desperately to get him out of Sheffield Wednesday; he has proven he can score goals at Championship level, he is prolific in League One, and he will get them promoted, so I think he is the one they need to break the bank to get."

Michael Smith has rarely been prolific over the course of his career, but did hit 19 goals in League One for Rotherham in 2021-22 and 17 for Wednesday in the following campaign. He is, however, 33 years of age, making him seven years older than namesake Sam.