Luke Armstrong: Wrexham apologise to Harrogate Town and their striker over failed transfer

Harrogate Town striker Luke Armstrong has scored 31 goals in 106 appearances for the club

Wrexham have apologised to Harrogate Town striker Luke Armstrong after his proposed signing on transfer deadline day failed to get over the line.

The Welsh club had agreed terms with their League Two rivals for the 27-year-old but missed the 23:00 BST cut-off point on Friday, 1 September.

Wrexham had considered an appeal to the EFL but have decided "there is no reasonable chance of success".

Harrogate had announced on Friday night that Armstrong had joined Wrexham.

But they now say Armstrong has now been registered as part of their League Two squad, with manager Simon Weaver describing his unexpected involvement as a "huge boost".

Wrexham's statement said: "Having reviewed the additional information received from the EFL and considered this in the context of the submission of the documents for the transfer of Luke Armstrong from Harrogate Town, the club have determined there is no reasonable chance of success if we were to appeal the EFL's decision to reject the transfer.

"We wish to apologise to Luke as we were unable to complete the transfer by the deadline and Harrogate Town, who we are sure will be as disappointed as we are that the transfer will not now be completed in this window.

"The club will be reviewing the circumstances and processes that have led to this outcome with all the relevant parties."

In a previous statement issued on Saturday morning, Wrexham had said: "The required documentation and clearance requests could not be completed in time and Armstrong's registration has been rejected."

Harrogate left Armstrong out of their Football League Trophy tie against Nottingham Forest Under-21s on Tuesday because of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding his proposed move to Wrexham.

But Weaver says the former Salford and Hartlepool forward will now be welcomed back into the fold.

"We know now that we will have Luke Armstrong with us until January at least and that is a huge boost to us because Luke is a very good player," Weaver said in a Harrogate statement.

"For both Luke and the club now it's about moving forward. To do that, we will be sitting down with Luke tomorrow (Thursday) at training to make sure his mind is clear and that he is happy to return to match action.

"Both Luke and his partner were excited by something new happening in their life and a lot of energy went into that, so we need to make sure that he is all right. If not, we have to do everything we can to make sure he will be in the future.

"We want to move on together and while it has been a rollercoaster for everyone involved, we move forward with one of the best strikers in League Two."