Wrexham chief executive Michael Williamson has said that Christian Eriksen initially rejected their summer approach because the former Manchester United star did not want to appear in the club’s award-winning documentary series.
Eriksen, whose heart stopped beating after he suffered cardiac arrest playing for Denmark at Euro 2020, was a free agent following his departure from Old Trafford when Wrexham, newly promoted to the Championship, made their bold move.
The club’s rise from the National League under Hollywood owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds has has been told in the Welcome to Wrexham series, which has won multiple Emmy awards and other industry honours.
Speaking to That Wrexham Podcast, Williamson, who was on the Inter Milan board when Eriksen played for the Serie A club from 2020-21, said: “I reached out to the agent and what was really interesting in the first call is the reaction was, ‘We don’t want his story to be in a documentary, because we’ve had plenty of opportunities for a documentary for his story.’
“He thought we were calling not because of his footballing capabilities, but because we wanted a documentary story.
“I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I didn’t even think about that’. Obviously, I’m aware of it, but that wasn’t the reason we were calling.
“We were calling because he could potentially be an interesting footballer, we’re looking for players that could play for us in the Championship. Difference makers that could help us be competitive on the pitch.
“After I explained what our actual objectives were, trying to build a competitive squad and that I wasn’t even thinking about it from a documentary perspective, we had a great conversation.”
Williamson said the idea of signing Eriksen was “kicked around,” but the midfielder wanted to continue playing for a “first-tier club.”
– Wrexham hail ‘statement win’ over Coventry with Moore hat trick- From Liverpool to Wrexham, are U.S. owners taking over English football?- Ex-Man United player pundits don’t help club – Eriksen
The 33-year-old eventually joined Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg in September, but Williamson said Wrexham’s transfer business benefited from their interest in Eriksen being made public.
“I wasn’t expecting the agent to come out and say what he said because I typically expect those conversations to be confidential,” Williamson said.
“But what it did was it sent a signal around the players’ market, if you will. That we were serious about being competitive.
“I think that was important because a lot of people were just saying, ‘OK, what’s Wrexham doing? You know, they’ve been a little bit quiet at the start of the market, but now they want to be competitive.’
“It opened up doors and conversations to bring in players like Kieffer [Moore], Josh [Windass], [Liberato] Cacace, Lewis O’Brien, Conor Coady.”
Wrexham subsequently broke their transfer record three times, spending a reported £10 million ($13m) on Wales striker Nathan Broadhead and £33m in total.
The Welsh club are 16th in a congested Championship table, five points from the playoffs.
“It’s going to take a few windows to really build a squad that is pushing for promotion. But it’s only going to get better and that’s what I’m excited about,” Williamson said.
