Wrexham's summer net spend among Europe's elite

Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney (left) and Ryan Reynolds took control of the Welsh club in 2021

In anticipation of what proved to be a historic third successive promotion, director Humphrey Ker said Wrexham would need to quadruple their wage bill in the Championship.

And it is fair to say Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have dug deep over recent months to heavily bolster Phil Parkinson's ranks.

Thirteen players moved to the Stok Cae Ras over the summer for the club's first season in the second tier in 43 years.

As for outgoings - which include departures of icons including Ollie Palmer and Paul Mullin, the latter on loan to Wigan Athletic - only the sales of Jack Marriott, Luke Bolton and Luke McNicholas generated income, and even that combined sum was nominal.

It means, having forked out about £30m to recruit - a sum that can rise even further once potential add-ons are included - the north Wales side have a net spend that ranks among some of Europe's elite clubs.

Business in full

Ins: Ryan Hardie, Danny Ward, Liberato Cacace, George Thomason, Josh Windass, Lewis O'Brien, Conor Coady, Kieffer Moore, Nathan Broadhead, Callum Doyle, Ben Sheaf, Dom Hyam, Issa Kabore (loan).

Outs: Sam Dalby, Mark Howard, Steven Fletcher, Jordan Davies, Will Boyle, Luke McNicholas, Luke Bolton, Jack Marriott, Paul Mullin (loan), Jake Bickerstaff (loan), Mo Faal (loan), Seb Revan (loan), Callum Edwards (loan), Tom O'Connor (loan) and Jacob Mendy (loan).

Summer signings Lewis O'Brien (left) and Kieffer Moore netted as Wrexham beat Millwall 2-0 before the international break to register their first Championship win of the season

How does Wrexham's spend compare with Europe's big guns?

Transfermarkt states Wrexham's net spend is by some distance the highest of the 24 clubs in the Championship.

Southampton and Ipswich Town - who were both relegated from the Premier League this year - were the only English Football League (EFL) sides to spend more than Wrexham, although they both recouped those fees and more via sales.

Despite being outspent by all 20 Premier League sides this summer, Wrexham's lack of big-money sales ensured they had a higher net spend than Bournemouth (-£87m), Brighton (-£64m), Brentford (-£49m), Crystal Palace (-£16m), Chelsea (-£3m), Wolves (£2m), Aston Villa (£10.5m) and Fulham (£19.5m).

As for Europe, Paul Macdonald, director of content at Realtimes Network, tells BBC Sport Wales "40% of clubs in Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga spent less than £10m in this window".

He added: "It means their [Wrexham's] net spend is higher than that of Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund among other established names."

How does it compare with previous spending at the club?

While there was an aligned clarity that significant quality additions were imperative to their ambition of reaching the Premier League - the headline-grabbing sums spent signify a drastic turnaround for a team whose fans raised £100,000 in 24 hours to rescue their club amid the threat of expulsion from the Football Conference as recently as 2011.

But this is a totally new era, and Wrexham are no strangers to smashing records under the current ownership.

Ollie Palmer's £300,000 arrival from Wimbledon in January 2022 was the first time Wrexham had beaten their club record fee for a player since signing Wales great Joey Jones - who passed away aged 70 in July - from Liverpool in 1978.

Mo Faal joined from West Bromwich Albion for a club-record £500,000 in 2024, but the fees handed over to keep doing their biggest deals have grown rapidly during the club's speedy rise from the National League.

In January, they broke the £1m barrier for the first time to sign forward Sam Smith from Reading.

They broke their record fee three times this summer - with left-back Liberato Cacace, central midfielder Lewis O'Brien and most recently attacker Nathan Broadhead all earning the tag across a 28-day spell between July and August.

The bigger picture

For all the talk around the club's hefty outlay, few could argue they have not operated in prudent fashion - with the captures of free agents Josh Windass and Danny Ward representing smart business.

Seven of their 13 summer signings have featured at international level and six have played Premier League football.

This is also a club that has raised its profile worldwide thanks to the marketing nous of their savvy owners, which in turn has seen them generate the type of revenue that is the envy of many clubs below, around them and even of some higher up the food chain. This will only improve further this season with the increased exposure in the second tier.

Further down the line, the club will open the redeveloped Kop Stand at their iconic home to take their stadium's capacity from little more than 10,000 to just over 18,000 - which will help boost revenue even further amid a constant scramble for match tickets at the north Wales venue.

They also acquired additional investment from the Allyn family - who owned Welch Allyn Inc, a renowned medical device company - in October last year.

So given their astonishing track record since officially taking charge in February 2021, it would be difficult to question the ambition or knowledge of Reynolds and McElhenney, along with the advisors to the Hollywood pair, given the unprecedented success they have brought to the club.