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

Add as preferred source on Google

The summer transfer window will be imperative for Wrexham ahead of the 2025/26 Championship, and one free agent would be a massive benefit to boss Phil Parkinson.

Wrexham made history with their successive promotion last season, and are now fighting to secure top flight football next season for the first time in their history.

As a result of the gulf in quality between League One and the Championship, the summer transfer window business is imperative for the Red Dragons, to equip head coach Phil Parkinson with a squad capable of pushing for promotion.

So far this summer, Wrexham have pursued Lewis Travis, as they look to send a serious statement of intent to their second tier rivals.

Aside from the Blackburn Rovers skipper, there is one Championship free agent that Wrexham must surely be targeting this summer, and he is one Red Dragons boss Parkinson knows very well.

• READ MORE: Sheffield United and Stoke ‘could be waiting’ months to sign Youssef Chermiti, Everton have decision to make

Wrexham must target free agent Lynden Gooch after his Stoke City release

Parkinson has revealed Wrexham’s transfer policy after promotion to the Championship is based around “attracting a higher calibre of player” than they’d been able to do in the third tier.

The introduction of proven second tier quality to Parkinson’s squad will be integral in Wrexham’s aspirations this coming season, and Lynden Gooch would be an impressive addition to the Red Dragons squad, following his recent release from Stoke City.

Sunderland academy graduate Gooch left the Black Cats in 2023 for Stoke after making 247 appearances in red and white during their turbulent successive relegations.

Gooch was released by the Potters this summer after spending just two seasons at the Bet365 Stadium with 53 Stoke appearances to his name.

The USA international is experienced in the top three divisions of English football, and is available for free this summer, with the versatile 29-year-old currently “weighing up his options”.

California-born Gooch told the Sunderland Echo: “I’m not too sure at the minute. Obviously, I am out of contract and I am just weighing up my options and seeing what comes my way.

“Hopefully something can get sorted in the next few weeks or whenever it is. I’m just trying to be patient, weighing up as many things as I can and seeing what can suit me and my family before any decision is made.”

Not only would Gooch’s experience, quality, and versatility bring a major benefit to Wrexham’s squad ahead of next season, but it would also reunite Gooch with his former Sunderland manager.

Wrexham boss Parkinson is well aware of the quality that the Black Cats academy graduate possesses.

• READ MORE: Ipswich Town pulled off masterstroke in £30m Liam Delap sale, Chelsea agreed to ‘very rare’ deal

Phil Parkinson has already told Wrexham what they could expect from Lynden Gooch

Wrexham boss Parkinson was the Sunderland head coach from October 2019 until November 2020, with the club in League One.

Under Parkinson’s stewardship, Gooch enjoyed his most productive season in front of goal for Sunderland, scoring ten goals and assisting twice in 30 appearances during the 2019/20 League One campaign.

It was during this time, in a tight affair against MK Dons, in which Gooch scored a stunning goal to secure victory for Parkinson’s Sunderland, in a moment the now-Red Dragons boss labelled as a showing of “immense quality” from the American.

Via the Shields Gazette, Parkinson said of Gooch: “It is a moment of real quality from Lynden. He is a very good player, and he has to keep taking his game to the next level each week, and that goal was a moment of immense quality.”

Gooch began his Sunderland career as a player capable of playing in multiple forward areas, then over time cemented himself as an astute full-back on either side of the defence, which is where he played most of his football in the latter stages of his Black Cats time and for Stoke before his release.

A player of Gooch’s ilk would be a sensible addition to Parkinson’s squad at Wrexham ahead of next season, and considering the versatile defender is a free agent, the financial side of the potential move also makes great sense for the Red Dragons.