Wrexham are set to smash the biggest transfer fee in the Championship as the Red Dragons reportedly table a £19 million ($26m) bid for Angers striker Sidiki Cherif.
The Championship side have proved in the past they don’t have problem spending on transfer fees. Wrexham spent over £30m ($40m) during the summer window of 2025 in an effort to ensure that collective ranks were strong enough to cope in the Championship.
Wrexham are now prepared to sign 19-year-old Sidiki Cherif from Angers.
Sidiki CHERIF of Angers during a Ligue 1 match. (Photo by Hugo Pfeiffer/Icon Sport via Getty Images)
According to Alan Nixon, Wrexham’s terms to sign Cherif include a guaranteed up front payment of £12m ($16m), with the rest of the fee being made up by add-ons and a substantial promotion bonus.
Wrexham hope that they can secure Cherif’s signature by offering him regular game time.
He is said to have already turned down a move to Ligue 1 side Paris FC, while Premier League side Crystal Palace have him on their radar.
Cherif broke into Angers’ senior squad during the 2023-24 campaign, helping them to promotion back to Ligue 1. He has recorded four top-flight goals this season – including efforts against Monaco and Marseille.
Angers’ French forward #11 Sidiki Cherif (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP via Getty Images)
Wrexham are not expected to sign much players this January but have been keeping the door open.
CEO Michael Williamson said recently: “January windows are always challenging just because you don’t know what the market is going to be.
“You don’t know what other clubs are looking at where sometimes it has to do with loans as well – what players may get called back from loans and from other clubs. It’s more of an opportunistic market. You look at your areas within the squad that you could use some additional support, whether it’s because of injuries or if it’s because of depth and you realise you might want an added piece to the squad. And then it’s about whether or not that added piece is available or not.
“In the summer market, there’s a lot more availability in the global market, not just in the UK, to be able to identify players to build and support the squad that you have. I think in January, it’s more about identifying where you might have some gaps and again, the gaps could be because of injuries or for other reasons, and then try to decide is there an opportunity to fill that?”
