“Lost that lynchpin" – Wrexham urged to fill squad gap during January transfer window | OneFootball

Our Wrexham Fan Pundit knows which position he wants the club to target this January

League One newboys Wrexham have started their season well, but there are still areas they could improve.

The January transfer window, coming midseason after a few months of games, offers the perfect opportunity to address issues identified throughout the season.

Wrexham will be no different in that sense, currently sitting in the top three, as they gear up to see if they can maintain their play-off challenge.

We asked our Wrexham fan pundit, Liam Grice, for the main area he feels the club needs to address in the window.

Wrexham need an attacking midfielder

Speaking to Football League World, Liam said: “I think it's been pretty obvious that the main flaw, as we've been speaking about for the last couple of months it seems, is the striker position for Wrexham.

“But I think, more than that, is an attacking midfielder that would like to progress the ball up the field.

“With Elliot Lee not really being deployed in his usual position, he's been played a bit deeper this year, we’ve sort of lost that lynchpin between the striker and the midfielders that sit, and I think that's really hampered our attacking threat going forward.

“We’ve been a lot more solid defensively because of it, but going forward it's really hampered our effectiveness.

“So, yeah, just that type of midfielder that can pick up the ball from deep and transition it to the forward players and create a lot of chances is I think what Wrexham really need.”

Elliot Lee’s changing role will need to be addressed

Although Wrexham can have few complaints as a recently promoted side, it is clear that the attacking side of their game is what’s likely to hold them back from mounting a sustained challenge on the likes of Wycombe Wanderers and Birmingham City.

Both have scored more than the Red Dragons — in Wycombe’s case they’re as many as 13 goals ahead — and there are also three teams below them in the table who have notched more than the Welsh outfit.

Lee was key to everything in an attacking sense to Wrexham last season, scoring 16 goals and setting up a further five in their League Two campaign last year, and combined well with the free-scoring Paul Mullin, who finished up on 24 goals last term.

Compare their combined 40 goals last season to the eight they’ve managed this time around, and it’s clear to see where the deficiency lies — that Lee is top goalscorer with six goals also tells a tale of its own.

Lee and Mullin provided a consistent path to goal last season, and Wrexham need to work on creating a similar channel for the second half of this season.

With Lee playing deeper and Mullin unable to recreate his form in earlier seasons, a proper all-action attacking midfielder, to link with a quality striker like Steven Fletcher, Ollie Palmer, Mullin or a new recruit, looks like the most likely way for Wrexham to find their shooting boots again.

They will have few complaints based on their current league position, but without a couple of key characters to rely on for goals in tougher matches, their promising position may soon prove unsustainable.

There’s plenty of quality in this Wrexham side, but, as Liam identifies, it may just take a creative spark in the centre of the park to knit it all together and replace the vacated role left by Lee this season.