How much will Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney spend this summer? Phil Parkinson delivers Wrexham ‘budget’ update ahead of next transfer window

Hollywood co-owners in North Wales have worked hard to make the funds available that allow the Red Dragons to be fiercely competitive. With shrewd additions made to the playing staff at SToK Racecourse, back-to-back promotions have been taken in.

Further recruitment is now required, ahead of a step up into League One, while decisions need to be made on nine expiring contracts. Wrexham will be restricted to a 22-man squad again in the third tier, making it imperative that Parkinson, Reynolds and McElhenney get big calls right.

Parkinson has told BBC Sport of that process, with talks well under way with executive director Humphrey Ker when it comes to transfer plans: “There’s a lot going on as you can imagine. But we’re focused on this weekend first and then we take stock of the situation and move into the summer with a clear plan of what we need to do. Humphrey’s been over here as well and I’ve had a good chat with him this week and obviously budgets are still being finalised for us to go forward. But we’ve got a clear understanding of what we need to be competitive next year. There’s a situation of having a limit of numbers and we’ve already got a lot of players signed up to contracts. So it’s about sitting down, like we’ve done this week, having chats and making the decisions which we feel are fair but that will benefit the club going forward in what is going to be an exciting season.”

Wrexham will have the likes of Paul Mullin and Elliot Lee at their disposal in 2024-25, but they are being linked with a number of potential targets – including current on-loan goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, who will hit free agency when his contract at Arsenal expires, and prolific Notts County striker Macaulay Langstaff.