Wrexham wanted £9m Championship superstar Adam Armstrong in the January transfer window. On the winter transfer deadline day, Armstrong bagged a Premier League move to Wolves.
As things stand, only 5 teams are ahead of Wrexham in the Championship table. Fair enough, the Reds have proven their second-tier mettle for more than two-thirds of the season. The final 16 games are left, where the end goal will be to finish as one of the three Premier League promotion winners for everyone involved at the Racecourse.
Signing top Championship superstars goes a long way in fulfilling that goal. Moreover, Wrexham were themselves willing to bring in a second-star superstar, Adam Armstrong. Be it 2016 or 2026, be it Barnsley, Blackburn Rovers or Southampton, Armstrong has always delivered when it comes to the Championship.
Plus, the 28-year-old dropped an all-timer playoffs performance two years ago. Playing for Southampton, Armstrong netted a semi-final brace against West Brom and the 1-0 winner in the final against Leeds United to win Premier League promotion for the Saints. Basically, Armstrong’s profile screamed a Wrexham transfer in all aspects.
Adam Armstrong joins Premier League side Wolves
Probably, Wrexham hesitated to work out a deal to take Adam Armstrong off of Southampton’s hands. Whatever be the reason, the Reds loss has turned into Premier League side Wolves gain.
Languishing at rock-bottom in the Premier League standings, the Molineux outfit has banked on Armstrong’s finishing to help them survive the Championship drop. In his own words, transfer journalist Ben Jacobs said: “Wolves confirm Adam Armstrong has joined from Southampton. £7m+£2m package.”
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At Wolves, Armstrong obviously got a higher division to play football than what Wrexham can currently offer. However, winning the relegation fight while only having earned 8 points in more than half of the season is almost next to impossible.
Most likely, the striker will be back to facing Championship defences in six months time regardless of his individual displays for Wolves during the rest of the Premier League campaign. Will Adam Armstrong regret picking a risky top-flight role in the middle of the season? No.
After all, playing Premier League football regularly is also good and heading back to a familiar second-tier with a future promotion favourite isn’t too bad either.
Will Wrexham regret not signing Adam Armstrong?
Looking from Wrexham’s point of view, it’s natural to imagine whether the Reds will live to regret not signing Adam Armstrong later. To be honest, the squad doesn’t suffer from a lack of goals and although narrow but 1-0, 2-1 wins keep coming every now and then.
READ MORE: Zak Vyner admits Wrexham player convinced him to join the club in January
READ MORE: ‘Got rid’ – Josh Windass sends hilarious welcome to £1m Wrexham signing
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It’s not the Wrexham of October and November, that couldn’t string two consecutive wins in the league. Back then, there was a real need for an Armstrong-esque proven goalscorer. Now, Sam Smith is handling the scoring responsibilities well, with Ollie Rathbone, Josh Windass and Nathan Broadhead supporting him up front.
Plus, at least one of Davis Keillor-Dunn and Bailey Cadamarteri can standout in the final stretch of the season. Hence, overloading all kinds of star strikers into an above average Championship attack is just unnecessary. That also creates disputes among some star forwards not getting enough playtime which they deserve.
Wrexham have avoided that messy situation by prioritising attacking potential for the present and future in the winter transfer window. Let’s see how Adam Armstrong fares at Wolves. Hopefully, Wrexham do just as well as they’re doing at the moment after missing out on Armstrong.
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