Anthony Patterson is due to undergo a medical with Wrexham, and he could yet be involved for their Championship opener at Cardiff City on 17 August. But the bigger point came from Phil Parkinson, who made it plain that Wrexham are still not where they need to be yet. The move is close. The squad, in his view, is still a work in progress.

Parkinson's message on the squad

Parkinson did not dress it up. Speaking to the BBC, he said: “We feel we're not where we need to be yet and we know that.” He added that Wrexham are working “to make sure that the squad is as strong as it needs to be in what is going to be an incredibly competitive division.”

That is the clearest frame for the Patterson deal. It is a signing that strengthens the goalkeeping group, but it is not being presented as the final piece. Wrexham have already added full-back Danny Imray and midfielder Ben Whiteman this summer, and Parkinson is still talking like a manager who expects more business before the league starts.

Wrexham's recent run also fits that tone. They have won two, lost two, then won one of their last five competitive matches, an uneven stretch for a team trying to get up to Championship speed.

Why Patterson fits the move

Patterson brings senior experience, not just promise. He made his senior debut for Sunderland in an EFL Trophy loss to Fleetwood Town in 2020-21, has made 169 competitive appearances for the club, and spent the second half of last season on loan at Millwall, where he featured 16 times across all competitions.

He also had a brief look at Wrexham first-hand when he was a substitute for Sunderland in the pre-season friendly at Philadelphia's Subaru Park on 2 August. That does not tell you how he will settle, but it does show Wrexham have been tracking a keeper with a decent body of work behind him.

The move makes sense because it gives Parkinson another established option in a squad he still wants to harden. The quote from the manager is doing a lot of work here, because it stops the Patterson pursuit being read as a finishing touch. It looks more like one step in a wider rebuild, with Cardiff City and 17 August now the first date to watch.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →