One Paul Mullin factor should worry Wigan Athletic as Wrexham AFC link emerges | OneFootball

Wigan Athletic are close to signing Wrexham's Paul Mullin, but although he's been prolific for the Red Dragons he hasn't proved himself in League One.

Paul Mullin may have been one of the most important players in Wrexham's recent ascent from non-league, but his new suitors should beware of one potentially worrying fact before they complete his signature.

A report from journalist Alan Nixon has linked the Wrexham striker with a move to Wigan Athletic this coming summer, but while Mullin has been a prolific goal-scorer for the Red Dragons during the first two of their three successive promotions from the National League to the Championship, his lack of progress at a League One level does offer a note of caution ahead of his arrival.

It's easy to get misty-eyed about Paul Mullin's time at Wrexham, but League One stats don't lie

When Mullin first signed for Wrexham in 2021, his arrival was considered quite a coup for the club.

After all, at the time, the Red Dragons were a National League club, and Mullin had finished the previous season as both the top scorer in League Two with Cambridge United and as the League Two Player of the Season.

And over the three years that followed, Mullin tore up the National League and, upon promotion, League Two as well.

In just three seasons he scored 90 goals in the League alone as Wrexham narrowly missed out on promotion before winning the National League title and then getting promotion from League Two as runners-up behind Stockport County.

The fourth tier of English football, however, is where the progress has ended for Mullin - and perhaps history has taught us something when it comes to the Liverpool-born striker.

Paul Mullin has come unstuck in League One twice before, and that should worry Wigan Athletic

Promotion to League One for Wrexham has seen Mullin run into a brick wall, and it isn't the first time that this had happened to him at this level, either.

He'd only played in League One once before, when he made 20 appearances and scored three goals for Tranmere Rovers during the 2019/20 season before being sent out on loan to Cambridge - a move he ended up making permanent.

And the 2024/25 season was, if anything, even worse than his previous League One experience at Tranmere.

Mullin missed the first few weeks after having spinal surgery in June to help with a "long-term lower back/hamstring issue", but his form simply didn't recover once he was available for selection again.

He was effectively frozen out of the first team altogether in February, with his last appearance for Wrexham coming in a penalty shootout defeat to Peterborough United in the EFL Trophy, during which he missed a spot-kick in the shootout.

He ended the season with just three League goals from 26 League matches, a drastic downturn in comparison with previous seasons.

The interested party in Mullin's servcies - Wigan - certainly need a goalscorer.

Despite finishing 16th in League One last season, the 40 goals they scored was the lowest tally in the entire division - but is Mullin the answer to that riddle?

He is definitely a 'proven goal-scorer', but he's only ever proven himself at a lower level than this for Wrexham, and his game will need to improve if he's to find his feet elsewhere in this division.

Should he go, he'd be working with an experienced coach, and someone who knew how to find the back of the net in his heyday in the EFL.

Ryan Lowe took Bury and Plymouth Argyle to promotion from League Two in successive seasons in 2019 and 2020 and did relatively well in the Championship with Preston North End, so there is a possibility that Lowe will be able to find a way to squeeze a few more goals out of Mullin.

But all concerned should be aware that he's had chances in League One before and failed to do so. Until he proves otherwise, Paul Mullin hasn't proved himself at the level at which he may be playing next season.