With a matter of days to go until Wrexham kick off their second season in the EFL Championship, it has been confirmed that they are in the hunt for Norwegian international defender Henrik Falchener.
Their pursuit of a centre-back comes as no major shock given the recent exits of Thomas O'Connor, Lewis Brunt, and Max Purvis, while they have yet to sign any direct replacements. Thus far, Wrexham’s transfer activity has been minimal, signing goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, full-back Danny Imray, and midfielder Ben Whiteman for a total of $22.4 million.
Towering center-back Falchener, who currently plays for Norwegian side Viking FK, has emerged as a very real target for Phil Parkinson and Co., with the Eliteserien champions’ sporting director Erik Nevland admitting as much in a recent interview.
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“We’re seeing a lot of interest in several of our players, yes,” he told Stavanger Aftenblad. “At the same time, this is something we’ve known all along. We know we have attractive players.
“The fact that we’re turning down such large offers shows that we want to be as well-prepared as possible for everything that lies ahead on the field.”
Pressed specifically on how hard it was to turn down Wrexham’s offers for Falchener, Nevland replied, “It depends on how you define ‘difficult,’ but we’re talking about incredibly large sums of money. Sums and offers that command respect, and that we’ve never even come close to in the club’s history.
“You should also have respect for all parties who are affected and get involved when such large bids are made. When there are such large offers, we connect everyone so that the decision is justifiable.
“It’s not just one man who makes the decision. There is a certain amount of gambling, but everyone here is behind the decisions.”
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Of course, almost every player has their price, and it appears the same goes for the 23-year-old defender. Speaking with NTB, via SI, Nevland admitted, “We certainly hope we can keep everyone, but of course there are things we can’t always control ourselves. So, we’ll have to see how things play out.”
Exactly how much Wrexham have offered for Falchener remains officially unclear, although The Athletic recently claimed the Red Dragons had tabled a club-record deal worth $10.96 million.
This would have been marginally more than the club recently shelled out for Patterson, who set them back $10.8 million, as per SI.
News of Wrexham’s interest in Falchener comes amid a memorable summer for the two-time Norway international, who was part of Ståle Solbakken’s FIFA World Cup squad in North America, making one appearance in the group phase.
Should he head to Wales, it seems unlikely he’d be the final piece of the puzzle to arrive at the Racecourse Ground before the summer transfer window closes, given Parkinson’s recent comments about the state of his team.
“We’re still not where we want to be with the squad. We’re not there yet, and it’s going to be as competitive as ever. We’ve got to make sure the squad is capable of dealing with the rigors of a Championship season,” he said.
“We’ve got some big decisions to make, as always. Hopefully, by the end of the transfer window, we’ll have the squad, numbers-wise, where we want it, but also in terms of strength and quality. We’re working extremely hard to achieve that.”
Having lost their first competitive game of the season in the EFL Cup to Middlesbrough, Wrexham will look to put this behind them when they face Cardiff City on Monday in their first Championship game of the campaign.