Earlier in the summer, when discussing Wrexham’s recruitment plans for a second season in the Championship, co-owner Ryan Reynolds used the analogy of a home-improvement show.“This episode is about making the kitchen work better, rather than doing a whole-house renovation,” said the Deadpool movie series star.Well, with just a couple of days to go until their second-tier season opener away to fellow Welsh side Cardiff City, it’s perhaps fair to say the new sink and dishwasher are plumbed in and the kitchen island installed, but the high-end cooker and set of chef’s knives remain on delivery.Wrexham are in decent shape.The “whole-house renovation” of year one in the Championship, following three straight promotions — Wrexham signed 13 players at a combined cost of £33million in the summer before another £5m went on three more additions during the winter window — led to a seventh-place finish, just one win shy of the play-offs.Danny Imray, Ben Whiteman and Anthony Patterson have since joined, further strengthening a squad that, unlike a year ago, when five additions were made after the campaign had begun, including three on deadline day, has had the benefit of a pre-season together.Nevertheless, as last weekend’s Carabao Cup first round exit away to fellow Championship side Middlesbrough showed, Wrexham need more.A frontline striker in the mould of that night’s matchwinner Will Lankshear, signed from Tottenham of the Premier League for an initial £10million that could double through add-ons, certainly wouldn’t go amiss. Nor would increased options out wide and a central defender, The Athletic revealing earlier this week that a couple of bids have been rejected for Norway international centre-back Henrik Falchener, 23, from that country’s Viking Stavanger.Phil Parkinson’s problem is he’s not the only Championship manager looking to make improvements. Nor are the clubs he’s trying to prise targets out of overly keen on losing some of their top talents.Danny Imray spent last season on loan at West Brom from Crystal Palace (Simon Galloway/Getty Images)“People always say, ‘Why does it get left so long?’” says Parkinson, whose talent search a year ago culminated in three key signings on the final day of the summer window in Issa Kabore (on loan), Dominic Hyam and Ben Sheaf.“But there are so many circumstances that can dictate that. We are working as hard as ever behind the scenes. I don’t think we’ve ever been a club who have been shy of making signings when the right players become available.”Since promotion back to the EFL in 2023, late signings have become something of a theme at the Racecourse Ground. Both Arthur Okonkwo and George Evans arrived in the final hours of that year’s summer window, as did their then-record signing Mo Faal a year later.Only Faal, currently out on loan at Port Vale of League Two, among Wrexham’s six deadline-day signings in the past three summer windows can be said not to have worked out, suggesting patience is usually rewarded at this time of year.“There’s been a good mood in the squad,” says Parkinson. “I felt this group needed a pre-season together, I really did. Last time, it was disjointed, with players coming in at different times, as we knew it would be.“We took gambles to get who we wanted. That meant being patient. Someone like Nathan Broadhead, Ipswich did not want to lose him. Those deals always take time. But we feel we have a special talent in Broady, so the wait was worth it.“He then took a bit of time to get to know us and us to get to know him. Sheafy, the same. But that’s the thing with signing players. They are not just for the next month. They are there for the long term, so sometimes you just have to take a view.”