WREXHAM have revealed the club’s released list following promotion to League One.
The Welsh outfit achieved back-to-back promotions as it continues to climb the English football ladder under its Hollywood ownership.
Wrexham was taken over by Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor Rob McElhenney in 2020.
They have helped the club get out of the National League and will now compete in League One after a successful season in League Two.
The club’s squad will have a very different look come the new season as EIGHT players have been released.
This includes captain Ben Tozer, who made 131 appearances for the club during his four-year spell at the club.
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Other notable players that will be on the hunt for a new club include goalkeeper Rob Lainton, defenders Callum McFadzean, Aaron Hayden and Jordan Tunnicliffe as well as midfielder Luke Young.
Youngsters Owen Cushion and Dan Davies have also been released by the club.
However, ex-Premier League stars Steven Fletcher and James McClean are set to stay.
McClean has seen his contract automatically extended for the 2024/25 campaign.
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While Fletcher has been offered a new deal to stay at the Racecourse Ground.
Manager Phil Parkinson has admitted that building the squad for League One will be a challenge.
He said: “I have been very much focused on the team and getting the job done.
“But naturally conversations are always going on about budgets, whatever division we were going to end up in and possible players
“It is a really exciting summer that lies ahead of us.
“The massive challenge for us is can we build this squad strongly to challenge in League One.
“I am really looking forward to taking on that challenge throughout the summer months.”
As for Wrexham’s targets for next season, executive director Humphrey Ker is eyeing a top half finish in League One.
He has revealed the club are hopeful of finishing in upper mid-table on their return to the third tier.
Ker told the Independent: “I think we’ve often talked about the idea that it takes three transfer windows to really build a squad into what you need to compete in any one division and next season will be one window shorter than that.
“But I think the core of this team is very strong. They’re very strong personalities, good players and they love each other, so that’s a great basis to build from.
“We’ll be adding players in the summer and sadly saying goodbye to one or two, which is sort of just the nature of football, and then we’ll sort of see where we wind up.
“Inside the building, we’re like, ‘Look, our objective is get up and stay up, stabilise and build a good platform and go again the following year.’
“But stranger things than promotion have happened – we might go through the division again.
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“To be honest, that would probably be too fast for us. It wouldn’t actually be that good for the club as a whole if we did go all the way through this year because we’d just be going so quickly.
“Then we’d be trying to catch up with infrastructure and our facilities and everything would be a big, big challenge. So I think something nice and comfortable – upper mid-table, please! Tenth. I’d be very happy with that.”
Wrexham’s full retained/released list
Here is a rundown of Wrexham’s full list of players that have been released and retained.
Released:
- Aaron Hayden
- Rob Lainton
- Callum McFadzean
- Ben Tozer
- Jordan Tunnicliffe
- Luke Young
- Owen Cushion
- Dan Davies
Offers:
- Steven Fletcher
- Mark Howard
- Aaron James
Retained:
- James McClean
- Harry Ashfield
- Callum Edwards
- Liam Hall
- James Rainbird
Decision Pending:
- Scott Butler
- Harry Dean
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk