Five-man Wrexham injury update ahead of Leeds United friendly as Manchester United result sends warning
Leeds United face the Championship side in their first pre-season friendly this weekend.
Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson hopes to welcome back a few more first-team players when his side face Leeds United in Tampa this weekend.
Leeds kick off their pre-season tour of the USA against the Championship outfit at 12.30am UK time on Sunday morning. Wrexham are much further along in their own preparations for the 2026/27 campaign having played two summer friendlies already against Wisla Krakow and Manchester United.
The second-tier side drew 0-0 in Poland before a 1-0 win over Manchester United in Helsinki on Saturday. A 39th-minute Sam Smith goal decided it for Wrexham against a mixed-strength opponent that did include the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and £50million summer signing Andrey Santos.
Parkinson hopes to welcome back the likes of experienced midfielder Ben Sheaf and creative attacker Josh Windass in time to face Leeds this weekend. But the Wrexham boss did reveal a couple of potential early injury absences.
"It's like the building blocks for us going into the American tour now," Parkinson told Wrexham's website. "We can bring a few players [back] now - Libby [Liberto Cacace], Sheafy [Ben Sheaf] and Josh Windass.
"Ryan Hardie and Elliot [Lee] have unfortunately picked up injuries which are hopefully not too serious. We have got other players to come back into that group but I feel the lads are progressing well. That's a good base to go to America with."
With two games already under their belts, Wrexham will be well-placed to really challenge Leeds. By the time they kick-off in Tampa, the Welsh side will be less than two weeks away from starting their 2026/27 campaign.
“I’m really pleased with the work of the lads today, not just the physical output, but also the tactical understanding of what was required to get the result,” Parkinson added. “It was a really good workout for us today, and a good progression that takes us into the American Tour in good spirits, so I’m very pleased.”
Like Wrexham’s weekend opponents Manchester United, Leeds will likely have a mixed-strength team with World Cup quartet Brenden Aaronson, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Ao Tanaka and Noah Okafor not yet back from their post-World Cup breaks. There could be an opportunity for new signings Harry Wilson and Tarik Muharemovic to feature, however.