Wrexham prepared to wait 'for extra bit of quality'

James McClearn won 103 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland

Manager Phil Parkinson is prepared to play the long game as he bids to bolster Wrexham’s squad for their League One campaign next season.

Wrexham secured back-to-back promotions after finishing second in League Two and next season will play in the third tier for the first time since 2005.

Parkinson said he was ready to wait for the right player,s but added he would not pay over the odds for new players this summer.

“You can get players in early, but sometimes the ones you really want will take a bit longer to get,” Parkinson said.

“It’s a balance which you’ve got to strike right.

“Like James McClean for instance, didn’t come on the American trip with us and it took us to the start of the season to secure that signing.

“But obviously we were speaking to him while we were out in America.

“Certain situations with players under contract take time, other players who are out of contract have options and deliberate longer than you would like.

“It’s sometimes best to wait for that extra bit of quality.”

Midfielder McClean joined from Wigan Athletic last August on the eve of the 2023-24 League Two campaign.

Wrexham return to North America for a three-match tour in July

They will face Premier League clubs Bournemouth and Chelsea in the US before they travel to Canada for the final game of the tour, against the Major League Soccer (MLS) side Vancouver Whitecaps.

Parkinson says expectations need to be realistic as Wrexham prepare for life in League One, a division which will feature Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town and Rotherham following relegation from the Championship.

“We’re obviously ambitious and we’re going to work very hard to build a squad which is competitive, there’s no question about that,” said Parkinson.

“But we don’t want to get carried away with ourselves – we want to go under the radar a little bit in the summer and see what kind of quality players we bring in.

“I’ve been spending the last few days looking at some League One games, watching the play-offs, and looking at the levels, looking at the physical data which we’ve got available at where we need to be physically.

“It’s a whole range of qualities we need to add to have another season which our supporters can be proud of.

“Already Birmingham fans are saying ‘we’ll win the league next year, we’ll come back up,’ Huddersfield the same and Rotherham with Steve Evans there.

“I think those clubs plus others – Charlton, Wigan Reading – teams which didn’t go up through the play-offs are going to have huge expectations on them next year.

“We’re going in at a different level of quality, but also a different scenario to where we came up this year with Notts County and instantly ourselves and Notts County were early runners to be top of the table.

“I don’t think we’re going to have that kind of expectancy from the outside.”