"A million-pound player" - Rotherham United reaction given to Wrexham transfer | OneFootball

The midfielder joined the Red Dragons last week for a club record.

Rotherham United sold Ollie Rathbone to Wrexham last Friday, following three seasons at the Millers.

The 27-year-old made the switch to Wales for a club record fee that had previously been set by Ollie Palmer when he moved to Wrexham for £300,000 in January 2022.

Rathbone made 138 appearances for Rotherham, after signing from Rochdale ahead of the 2021/22 season, helping the club to promotion from League One, before the club survived in the Championship, staying in the same division in two consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2016/17 campaign.

However, following relegation back to the third tier, the midfielder has been searching for pastures new after having just one year left on his contract at the New York Stadium.

Rotherham may rue not getting Rathbone to sign a new deal

As is natural when a player's contract grows closer to the expiry date, Rathbone became a cheaper asset for Wrexham to chase this summer.

Therefore, supporters of Rotherham may have wished that the Millers were able to tie down the 27-year-old to a longer contract last year, even if he still left in this transfer window.

However, Rathbone made his point clear to manager Steve Evans, and pushed for a move this summer. This had an impact on his fee, according to FLW'sRotherham Fan Pundit, Tom Eyre: "Rathbone, without a year left on his contract, is a million-pound player. If not, he’s £750k to a million pounds.

"I think it's easy to forget that he didn't want to stay, he didn't want to sign a contract."

Rathbone will be a game-changer for Wrexham

After signing lower league greats on their way to a double-promotion from the National League all the way to League One, Wrexham are now in need of players who are experienced in the upper echelons of the EFL.

Rathbone provides this for the Red Dragons, having played 80 Championship games, while also appearing nearly 200 times in the third tier.

With such a history in the division, Phil Parkinson will be able to rely on the midfielder to bring calm to the team when things are not going so well, and drive Wrexham up the table.

Tom believes that although the fee that Rotherham have been able to bring in is good, it will be Parkinson's side that are happier with the deal: "To get £500k for someone who was going to go for free no matter what, is a good deal, and I think Wrexham have got a really good player on their hands.

"He could be the difference between them going up automatically or even winning the play-offs this season."

Rathbone returns to the New York Stadium on October 19, and will welcome his former club to the STōK Cae Ras on March 8 2025.