EFL expert believes Wrexham will make a ‘very smart’ signing with 12-goal forward, fans should be excited

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Wrexham fans should be excited as the Red Dragons appear poised to complete the signing of an impressive forward.

Wrexham made history with successive promotions last season and now have their sights set on top flight football, with a gruelling Championship campaign ahead in their way.

Following their historic League One campaign, Wrexham have been linked with a plethora of players so far during the summer transfer window.

Wrexham have targeted Lewis Travis of Blackburn Rovers, and have been linked with a move for Leicester City goalkeeper Danny Ward despite his difficult Premier League campaign during the Foxes’ relegation.

Now, it appears that the Red Dragons are poised to secure the services of a prolific EFL forward, who in the view of one EFL expert, will be a “very popular” addition.

• READ MORE: Wrexham must sign Championship free agent this summer, Phil Parkinson knows he has ‘immense quality’

Plymouth Argyle forward Ryan Hardie poised to sign for Wrexham

Prolific forward Ryan Hardie is poised for a move to Wrexham, in the wake of his stellar goalscoring campaign at Plymouth Argyle, despite their relegation to League One.

Within the 2024/25 season, Scotsman Hardie notched 12 goals and three assists in all competitions for Plymouth, who have since parted ways with Miron Muslic.

With the 12-goal forward set for a move to the Racecourse Ground, EFL expert Ali Maxwell of the Not The Top 20 podcast believes that the Red Dragons are making a “very smart” addition for head coach Phil Parkinson.

Maxwell told DragonSports: “It looks like Ryan Hardie is on his way to Wrexham, and here’s why I think this is a very smart addition to Phil Parkinson’s squad.

“Hardie’s been at Argyle for 5 and a half years now, he scored over 70 goals for the club, he’s been a real success.

“I think to have someone like Hardy who is really good as a forward that runs the channels, that plays on the last line of the defence trying to beat the offside track and is very very comfortable and happy latching on to balls into the channels down the sides of centre-backs in behind full-backs when they’ve pushed forward, Hardie has excelled at that exact skill at this level for the last few seasons.

“He is really quick and he can run at speed for long distances, so as a counter-attacking striker, he’s a really, really good player at this level,

“And in that sense, clearly adds a big need in Wrexham’s striking department, and I think will complement either Sam Smith or another striker more of a physical target man type, really nicely.

“What this means for Wrexham is if their games are going to look the way that I think they will look, they need to have the right players at the top of the pitch to make the most of the attacking style that Phil Parkinson will want to play.

“I think Hardie to Wrexham makes a huge amount of sense for the club, a huge amount of sense for the player, and I think he’s going to be very, very popular with Wrexham fans, not just for his work rate but for what he brings to the team, and I reckon a decent goal return as well.”

Hardie’s record within the EFL, most recently at Argyle, highlights the calibre of player Wrexham are signing and also sends a serious statement of intent to their second tier rivals for the 2025/26 Championship.

• READ MORE: Plymouth Argyle are closing in on their Miron Muslic replacement, his last club made ‘a mistake’

Signing Ryan Hardie from Plymouth will be a massive coup for Wrexham

Across his six-year stint at Plymouth, Hardie has proven he is a clinical finisher who is capable of scoring goals within the third tier, but most importantly, in Wrexham’s case, also the Championship.

Within the third and second tier, Hardie has found the net 74 times and notched 23 assists in 248 games for Argyle, under a host of different managers.

Impressively, within the last two seasons in which Argyle flirted with relegation, Hardie still managed to return double figures for goal contributions in both campaigns, highlighting his prolific nature in front of goal.

With Hardie approaching the final year of his current Plymouth deal, a transfer fee for the Scot is unlikely to dent Wrexham’s most expensive signings of all time list, which makes the move for Hardie a sensible one both in footballing and financial terms.

A player of Hardie’s ilk arriving for a minimal fee, to team up with prolific Red Dragons frontman Sam Smith, will have the Wrexham faithful extremely excited ahead of next season.