Wrexham have had a rise up the leagues unparalleled by any side in recent memory. Backed by Hollywood icons Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the pair, along with a successful cohort of players and managerial staff, have taken the Welsh side from the National League all the way to the Championship. Doing so with scrutiny, with many criticising their spending habits, it is a game plan that has proved successful for the club.

Perhaps best known for their documentary that airs on Disney+, the club and its players are known all over the world. Due to the club’s immense popularity and ascension up the football pyramid, the club have been able to sign some of the best players available to them, putting them on wages that may make jaws drop. Hoping to go one step further and achieve Premier League status, they will hope their new signings can help achieve this goal.

With the help of Capology, and other sources where applicable, these are the reported wages for the Wrexham team of 2026/27.

Goalkeepers

Action Images/John Sibley

Wrexham recently shattered their transfer record by signing Anthony Patterson from Sunderland. The Englishman has joined the club in an £8 million move. He put pen-to-paper on a four-year deal, but it is currently unknown how much he is earning.

One of Wrexham’s first signings after earning promotion to the Championship was acquiring the services of Danny Ward. A keeper with Premier League experience, his arrival back in his home country was a real statement of intent. However, the Welshman, who earns £12,500-per-week, played just eight matches for the club in the 25/26 campaign as he had to settle for a backup role.

Arthur Okonkwo, who helped the Red Dragons get out of League Two and League One, is the club’s lowest-paid goalkeeper, with Ward possessing a weekly wage of £12,500 and Callum Burton on £5,000. The former Arsenal Academy player lives in Wales with a weekly income of £3,000. Despite impressing between the sticks, he could now be on the move following Patterson’s arrival.

Defenders

Action Images/John Sibley

As is the case with non-Premier League sides, incomings and departures are constant. With Wrexham having risen the ranks phenomenally, they have continued to invest and buy new players and reward performing ones, hence why seven of their first-team defenders were signed in the past year.

Leading the way is former Premier League defender Conor Coady, who, having had spells with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton, joined from Leicester City. The Englishman has not justified his £25,000-per-week wages at the time of writing, having spent the second half of the 2025/26 campaign on loan at Charlton Athletic.

Callum Doyle and Liberato Cacace joined the England international last summer. Both earn £15,000-per-week, as does Danny Imray, per SalaryLeaks. Dominic Hyam, Zak Vyner and academy graduate Max Cleworth are the three other defenders that earn £10,000 or more every seven days.

Midfielders

Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

An incredibly robust midfield to be operating with, all of Wrexham’s midfield contracts were signed from 2024 onwards. The leading two on the list, Lewis O’Brien and Ben Sheaf, were summer signings from the Red Dragons, with their incomings moving straight to the top of the list of highest earners in each position. O’Brien, who has spent time in the MLS and the Premier League, was an astute signing by Phil Parkinson, with Sheaf making the move from fellow Championship outfit, Coventry City.

O’Brien earns £17,500-per-week, while Sheaf, as well as former Leicester player Matty James, earns £15,000-per-week.

Oliver Rathbone and George Dobson, two players that were integral in Wrexham earning promotion from League One to the Championship, are earning £12,500-per-week, just more than George Thomason (£10,000-per-week) and Ryan Longman (£7,500-per-week).

Wrexham signed Preston North End captain Ben Whiteman in a £3m deal this summer. He signed a three-year deal but his weekly salary, at the time of writing, is unclear.

Attackers

Action Images/Jason Cairnduff

As has been the case with all of Wrexham’s contracts, five of their forwards put pen to paper in 2025, with a further two signing in 2026. Among those are two players with plenty of Premier League experience: Kieffer Moore and Jay Rodriguez.

Moore, a Welshman, is the club’s highest-paid player, earning £30,000-per-week. Former England International Rodriguez earns £25,000 every seven days.

Sam Smith earns £15,000-per-week, as does Josh Windass, son of Premier League cult hero, Dean. Elsewhere, Nathan Broadhead rakes in £12,500-per-week, while Davis Keillor-Dunn and youngster Bailey Cadamarteri earn £7,500 and £6,500-per-week respectively.

Celtic are now said to have agreed a deal to sign Paderborn midfielder Mika Baur after weeks of negotiations. The Bhoys had a slow start to the summer transfer window, but they are now playing catch-up against an all-important deadline on Thursday.

That’s not the transfer deadline, but it is the deadline to register squads ahead of the Champions League qualifying play-offs. The Bhoys face Austrian champions LASK on August 18 and 25, and any players not registered before Thursday will not be able to play in those games.

Celtic are wrapping up a deal for Real Oviedo winger Haissem Hassan ahead of that deadline, but the Egypt World Cup winner is not the only arrival. The Hoops are now closing in on a deal for midfielder Baur.

Paderborn have been holding out amid interest from Celtic this summer, with the midfielder having been important in their promotion-winning campaign of last. Now in Bundesliga, Paderborn were willing to use Baur in the final year of his contract and lose him for free if their value was not met, and Celtic have not been able to get around it.

The Bhoys are also not helped by the fact Arne Engels will likely go for £25million this summer, and the footballing world knows it, so they are not going to be granted any discounts.

But aware they need reinforcements ahead of the Champions League qualifiers, Celtic have now struck a deal, and at a million or so above what Baur was expected to cost.

German journalist Florian Plettenberg posted on X: “EXCL | Mika Baur to Celtic – DONE DEAL. Full agreement reached with SC Paderborn. Transfer fee: €8m all-in. Record sale. Contract until 2031. The 22 y/o central midfielder is now on his way with his agents. Transfer set to go through, pending medical and contract signing.”

Celtic’s current midfield crop

• Benjamin Nygren
• Odin Thiago Holm
• Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
• Arne Engels
• Sean McArdle
• Callum McGregor

Celtic are still in the market for further additions

Celtic are on their way to landing Baur, but they still need another midfielder in their bid to replace Engels this summer. Engels is vital for the Bhoys, and he has shown that in his first two games of the season.

The Belgian controls the tempo of the game and gives Celtic so much going forward by taking the ball and driving forward into the final third.

Celtic are not going to spend all of the £25million they are likely to receive from Engels, so it’s likely it will be a case of replacement by committee, and while Baur looks to be a good player, it’s likely it will take another midfield signing, although it’s likely that signing will not come until Engels is sold.

Celtic are currently looking to keep hold of Engels until after the Champions League qualifiers amid interest from West Ham and likely others.

Lionel Messi has broken his silence following the death of his father with an emotional statement in which he has hinted that he could retire from football soon.

Messi‘s father Jorge died last week at the age of 68 following a long illness, passing away in a hospital in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina.

He had fallen ill before the start of the World Cup, but, as Messi states in his emotional tribute to his father, had convinced one of the world’s greatest ever players to play in the tournament.

Jorge had acted as his son’s agent for the entirety of his career, since the age of 14, with Messi previously paying tribute to the work his father had done in his career. And now he has passed away, Messi has admitted that he is not sure how much longer he will carry on playing football.

Messi’s emotional statement in full

REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

“Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone. I can’t believe I won’t see you anymore, that we won’t talk anymore. I know you were suffering and that’s the best thing, but you left too soon. We still had so much left to enjoy together.

“You always asked me to play in the last World Cup and days before it started, that’s when you got worse. It was the first time you weren’t going to be in a tournament, but mum told me you were going to be fine and that you would be okay to travel. I told you we would get to the final and you could see a game.

“I came to you because I couldn’t talk about everything that happened. You couldn’t enjoy anything. We weren’t champions, but you never knew how we enjoyed every game. Once again, you were right: you had to be there and play.

“I tell you this because it was the only thing we couldn’t talk about, because everything else you already know. We talked every day and saw each other when we could because of my commitments.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, I don’t know how to go on. I just played soccer and now I have a lot of doubts that I’ll keep doing it for a long time more. You were by my side from the beginning, so close to the end. Why didn’t you hold on a little longer and we could have finished together?

“I know your happiness was seeing your family, your wife, your kids, and above all, without the others finding out, seeing me play…

“It was always like that since I was little. You took me to all the training sessions as soon as you got home from work. I took many of you to mom’s place because you were working.

“Obviously, you didn’t miss any of the games. How you suffered seeing me and how you enjoyed it, even though you never gave me many compliments.

“You were dad, friend, and representative. You were always the person you had to be in every moment and you never made a mistake. Beyond some reproaches or fights, you were always right. In the end, it all came down to what you said.

“I will miss you a lot, but you will always be present, and especially in the education of my children, because I teach and educate them as you did with me.

“Rest in peace and take care of us from above as you did here. Thank you for everything.

“I love you, dad.”