McElhenney celebrates as Wrexham AFC bag signing of the summer
30.07.2021
In an unprecedented transfer coup, Wrexham signed the League 2 player of the season, Paul Mullin, on a 3-year deal. The star-powered North Wales dragons signed Mullin on a free transfer, after the target man snagged 34 goals in 50 appearances for Cambridge United last season. The striker’s pace, strength, and eye for a goal sealed Cambridge’s promotion to League 1, in a career-defining season for the Liverpool and Huddersfield academy product.
It’s not often a 27-year-old footballer in the form of his life transfers to a lower league. Rarer still when it follows a promotion to the league above. However, much to Wrexham fans’ delight, the new owners’ ambitions proved infectious enough to win Mullin over.
In a post-signature interview, the star striker revealed that Wrexham co-owner ‘sold it’ to Mullin over the phone, as ‘the ambition of him as an owner was sort of what attracted me to the club’. This reflects McElhenney’s excited tweets which followed the announcement. The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor tweeted that Mullin ‘is a star’, declaring ‘what a player. What a TEAM. Let’s go’.
Although Mullin misses Cambridge United’s move to League 1, Wrexham fans will hope he sees the EFL again soon enough in a red and white shirt. The bookies have Wrexham at 10/3 to take the National League title this season, and 2/1 for promotion. With the investment and trajectory ambitions ramping up at this rate, the sky’s the limit for the worldwide reds.
Earlier in June, Halifax boss Pete Wild expressed shock at the level of National League expenditure, claiming clubs were ‘throwing money around’ like never before. Wild asserted that National League spending outstripped League 2 investment, weeks before Wrexham bought League 2’s player of the season.
For Wrexham fans and neutrals, this latest move brings an exciting element of star quality into an already engaging competition. However, rival clubs and their fans might feel aggrieved as the playing field tilts once more in overseas investors’ favour. This summer also marked a National League AGM with non-league salary caps and tighter regulations on the table. However, as Wrexham eye-up promotion, new non-league rules might prove too little too late.
