Wrexham rival Champions League giants with biggest net spend in the Championship

Wrexham have gone all out in the summer transfer market again as their fairytale journey up the football pyramid continues.

Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have overseen three promotions in the last three seasons to reach the Championship.

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It means they are potentially just one season away from reaching the promised land – the Premier League. 

A rapid rise up the leagues has naturally led to consistent overhaul of their squad to enable them greater success.

For instance, National League and League Two hero Paul Mullin – who scored 110 goals in 172 games – has returned to League One on loan with Wigan.

This summer, Wrexham have spent £23.65m on incomings as they add players with Premier League and Championship pedigree. 

While no players have been sold, their net spend is remarkably among one of the highest in all of world football.

According to data on Transfermarkt, they are 29th for biggest net spend this summer. This is just one place behind European giants Inter Milan.

Inter have a net spend of £25.7m, but could see this blown out the water if they do eventually get the signing of Ademola Lookman over the line.

Wrexham’s net spend is the most of any Championship club, with Charlton their nearest rivals in 49th on £10m.

Who have Wrexham signed this summer?

Wrexham completed the signing of Manchester City defender Callum Doyle on Thursday in a deal worth around £7.5m.

That is Phil Parkinson’s side’s 10th new addition of the window where they have already smashed their club record transfer fee.

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That was the signing of Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich in a deal worth up to £10m.

Conor Coady (£2m), Lewis O’Brien (£5m), and Kieffer Moore (£2m) also joined for modest fees and have plenty of Premier League experience between them.

The free transfers of Josh Windass and Danny Ward were also shrewd signings by the Championship new boys.

Why can Wrexham spend this money?

For most EFL clubs, player sales are vital to being able to reinvest in their squad but for Wrexham this is not the case.

They have not generated any transfer fees with a number of players either leaving on loan or being released.

Their most recent financial results released in March painted a picture of just how much money their Hollywood owners have helped bring in.

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The figures, which covered a period when they were a League Two club, showed their revenue was at £26.7m.

This is compared to just £1.148m the club reported before Reynolds and McElhenney took over.

To put that into context, Deloitte reports the average revenue of Championship clubs at £22m.

While the club does not earn any money directly for their hit Disney+ documentary ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, the impact is obvious.

Every match at The Racecourse Ground is a sellout and shirt sales, thanks to their fans on both sides of the pond, helped drive their retail revenue to £4.45m.

This is on top of lucrative brand deals the club has secured amid their ever growing popularity, which has exploded over the last four years and shows no signs of slowing down.

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How have Wrexham started the Championship?

It has been a tough start for Wrexham, who have lost their opening two games of the new season.

The first was a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Southampton, with the Saints scoring twice in stoppage time.

Their second game of the campaign was a 3-2 defeat at home to West Brom.

On Saturday they face Sheffield Wednesday, who have been mired by trouble off the pitch this summer.