Davis Keillor-Dunn opens up on snubbing plenty of Championship rivals in favour of his Wrexham return during the January transfer window.
Before the January transfer window, midfield was Wrexham’s strongest area in the squad in terms of both quality and competition. As many as 4 central midfielders were available at boss Phil Parkinson’s disposal meaning he had enough room for trying a bunch of midfield combinations.
Now, Parkinson is also spoilt for choices up top thanks to Davis Keillor-Dunn and Bailey Cadamarteri’s deadline day switches. Both of them are fairly new to the 58-year-old Englishman. However, there are slight chances Parkinson might have heard of Keillor-Dunn’s first Wrexham spell in recent weeks, prior to the Reds recruiting him.
Despite not hailing from Wrexham’s academy, Davis had a brief eight-month stay at the Racecourse in the initial years of his senior career. Back then, there were no Hollywood owners around and neither Phil Parkinson present at the club. Still, Davis wanted to be a success in Wrexham’s colours and his recent comments sum up those feelings.
Davis Keillor-Dunn opens up on snubbing rivals for Wrexham return
In his own words, Wrexham quoted Davis Keillor-Dunn on starting a second Reds stint: “If there’s one club that’s calling, it’s Wrexham you want to go to. When I heard of the interest and spoke to the manager, there was only one place I wanted to come – and that was back here.”
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In between his excitement, Keillor-Dunn always gave a glimpse of the number of January transfer options he had on his table. He didn’t point out names of any interested clubs but going by journalist Pete O’Rourke, nearly one-fifth of the Championship was chasing Davis Keillor-Dunn’s signature.
A few weeks ago, Pete O’Rourke delivered a Davis Keillor-Dunn transfer update saying: “Blackburn Rovers, Preston and Middlesbrough all sent scouts to watch Barnsley striker Davis Keillor-Dunn against Liverpool on Monday night.”
The Liverpool game in question was Barnsley’s FA Cup 3rd round tie, where former Wrexham defender Eoghan O’Connell also accompanied Keillor-Dunn in Barnsley’s starting lineup. Perhaps, O’Connell might have had a helping hand in Keillor-Dunn’s Wrexham return similar to how Matty James convinced Zak Vyner to join Wrexham.
How many former Wrexham players have returned in the 2025/26 season?
Following Davis Keillor-Dunn’s Wrexham homecoming, it’s natural for fans to think that club returns have become a new trend at Wrexham. After all, the 28-year-old striker isn’t the only former Red to have traced his steps back to the club during the ongoing 2025/26 season.
If we consider loan returns, then a full starting eleven can be assembled from them. However, Davis Keillor-Dunn is the third Wrexham player the club has signed permanently this campaign who used to play elsewhere in recent years.
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Danny Ward
Danny Ward was the first Wrexham returnee this season. The backup goalkeeper left the Red Dragons for Premier League giants Liverpool in 2012 and came back to the Racecourse 13 years later last summer. In those years away from Wrexham, Ward rarely got minutes at Anfield and had to adopt a second-choice goalkeeper’s role at Leicester City later.
Ward was a deputy for Wales as well, but used to get his starting moments here and there. Overall, the FA Cup and Championship titles with Leicester City and the Euro 2016 semi-finals with Wales has been the highlight of Ward’s career so far. Gaining a Premier League promotion with Wrexham will be the cherry on top of the cake for the 32-year-old Welsh shot-stopper.
Nathan Broadhead
The second player in this list is Nathan Broadhead. Similar to Ward, Broadhead also grew up in the Reds academy but quickly moved to Merseyside to link up with Everton’s youth setup. Joining the Toffees turned up as a game-changing decision for the current Wales international.
Broadhead got the luxury of heading out on a couple of strong loan moves to further his development. That included promising loan spells at Sunderland and Wigan Athletic that paved the way for Broadhead’s big Ipswich Town move in 2023. He won the Premier League promotion while being an integral part of the Tractor Boys attack.
After a gap of 17 years, the 27-year-old finalised his full-circle Wrexham return becoming the Reds record signing in the process.
READ MORE WREXHAM NEWS HERE:
- £9m Championship superstar Wrexham wanted bags Premier League move
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- ‘Got rid’ – Josh Windass sends hilarious welcome to £1m Wrexham signing
- Wrexham made only one January transfer mistake (it can come to haunt later)
- Zak Vyner admits Wrexham player convinced him to join the club in January
