Wrexham’s rumoured bid for Sunderland’s Anthony Patterson threatens to shatter dressing room harmony and spark a brutal goalkeeper civil war as the club races for promotion
Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac aren’t playing games anymore. As the Red Dragons set their sights on a historic charge towards the Premier League, reports of a brutal £8million transfer plot are threatening to tear through Phil Parkinson’s dressing room, sparking potential unrest.
Rumours are rife that the club is ready to launch a blockbuster bid for Sunderland shot-stopper Anthony Patterson. The 26-year-old academy graduate is understood to be up for grabs this summer, with Black Cats boss Régis Le Bris ready to cash in.
Patterson, who impressed on loan at Millwall last season, keeping seven clean sheets in 14 games and starring in the play-offs, is at the centre of a massive transfer tug-of-war. Wrexham are ready to battle Championship rivals Wolves and the Lions for his signature.
But while a multi-million-pound shiny new signing sounds exciting, it could set up an unsettling game of musical chairs at the Racecourse Ground, with at least one major casualty guaranteed.
To the naked eye, a massive spending spree on a keeper might look like overkill. But the blunt reality of Wrexham’s recent Championship campaign tells a different story.
Parkinson’s side shipped a staggering 65 goals last term, with 37 of those leaked at home. Only relegated Sheffield Wednesday had a worse home record.
While misplaced midfield passes and defensive teething problems played a part, the “Expected Goals on Target Conceded (xGOT)” metric shows that Wrexham’s main duo in goal did okay but no more.
Wales international Danny Ward essentially performed exactly as expected, letting in 12 goals against an xGOT of 12.82.
However, former Arsenal man Arthur Okonkwo actually underperformed, getting beaten 53 times when the data suggests he should have only conceded about 50.
Not everyone likes the proliferation of stats in the modern game, but when you compare that to the division’s heavy hitters, the gap becomes glaring.
Promotion-winning keepers like Coventry’s Carl Rushworth and Ipswich’s Christian Walton massively over-performed their metrics, actively saving their teams from goals that should have gone in.
If Wrexham want automatic promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, they need a match-winner between the sticks, not someone who is just par for the course.
At the same time, bringing in Patterson for an eye-watering £8m fee is a move that risks detonating the dressing room harmony which Parkinson has worked so hard to build.
The current crop of senior keepers, also including former Plymouth stopper Callum Burton, are all entering the final year of their contracts. Adding a high-profile, expensive new number one essentially tells everyone else they are surplus to requirements.
Current number one Okonkwo won’t take this lying down. The 24-year-old is an unshakeable force with two international caps for Nigeria, and despite being let go by Arsenal, many fans believe he has top-flight DNA.
He racked up 39 appearances and 10 clean sheets last year, producing late heroics to seal crucial wins at Charlton and Millwall. Furthermore, a rift is already brewing among the Wrexham faithful.
A vocal section of the fanbase is frustrated that Okonkwo was dropped for Ward by Parkinson during the crucial final games of the season as the club agonisingly miss out on the play-offs to Hull City.
For many, paying an astronomical fee for Patterson when Okonkwo has already played more first-team club games than Ward (known for sitting on the bench in the latter part of his career) is complete madness, especially when that cash could fix other glaring issues in the squad.
Yet, the other side of the argument is simple – ruthless ambition. To catch up with the likes of Coventry and Ipswich, Wrexham need flawless decision-making and elite shot-stopping.
Patterson has proven he can deliver in the high-stakes environment of the Championship. If Rob and Ryan pull the trigger on this £8million mega-deal, it will send a message to the rest of the league. But inside the Racecourse dressing room, the battle for the number one shirt could get incredibly ugly.