Wrexham Not Slowing Down With $27 Million Transfer Spree

Wrexham means business.

The Welsh club owned by American celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney has had a splashy summer after earning a spot in the Championship, the second-highest tier of English soccer.

On Thursday, the club announced it had signed forward Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich City. Reports indicate the transfer fee for the former Wrexham youth player reached £7.5 million ($10.2 million) up front, plus potentially an extra £2.5 million ($3.4 million) in performance-related add-ons. That more than doubles the club’s transfer fee record set earlier this summer at around £3 million ($4 million) for Lewis O’Brien. Broadhead is the ninth player Wrexham has signed this summer, bringing the club’s total spending past £20 million, or roughly $27 million.

The summer spending spree proves that Wrexham, coming off a historic three straight promotions, has no intention of slowing down, and their spending is competitive with their rivals for a Premier League promotion.

Norwich City slightly edges Wrexham in how much it has spent on transfers, but also sold players for a total of roughly $32 million, according to Transfermarkt. Wrexham too has sold players, but for not nearly as much. (Their listed amount on Transfermarkt is $0.) No other team in the Championship has spent so much on transfers, including Tom Brady’s Birmingham City. His club spent about $16 million on transfers and made back about $10 million by selling players to other teams, according to Transfermarkt.

And there still could be more signings to come before the summer transfer window closes Sept. 1. Football Insider reported in May that Wrexham’s owners would be allocating 30 million pounds for transfers this summer.

Wrexham is growing quickly. Last summer, the club announced a then-undisclosed record-breaking transfer fee for Ollie Rathbone, which Transfermarkt says was roughly under $600,000. The fee for Rathbone broke the previous club record set in 2022, which was roughly under $400,000 for Ollie Palmer.

Wrexham lost its first game in the Championship 2–1 to Southampton last weekend.