"Hopefully Parkinson will see" - Claim made on Paul Mullin's state of affairs at Wrexham AFC | OneFootball

The striker has spent a lot of time in the treatment room this season dealing with multiple injury problems.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Wrexham closed in on Wycombe Wanderers and took another step towards a third successive promotion on Sunday afternoon, as they inflicted further damage on Mansfield Town at Field Mill in a 2-1 win.

Max Cleworth's thunderous strike just before the hour mark handed the Red Dragons a vital three points to take them within touching distance of the Chairboys following their 0-0 draw with Wigan Athletic 24 hours earlier.

Phil Parkinson's side took the lead inside the opening two minutes of the game in Nottinghamshire after Calum Macdonald turned into his own net before making up for his error soon after with a goal at the right end. However, the Welsh outfit were able to pick up their third win in four League One games thanks to Cleworth's seventh goal of the season.

Wrexham were also boosted by the return of Paul Mullin to the bench following a shin injury, with the 30-year-old finally showing some positive signs after a year ruined by fitness issues.

Verdict made on Mullin's selection chances at Wrexham

The Red Dragons were busy in the January transfer window, and added two excellent forward players to their ranks in Jay Rodriguez and Sam Smith.

The latter has already scored his first goal in red-and-white, and the early signs look positive. However, for Mullin, the arrival of an in-form striker will be a huge threat to his chances of regular football, especially if he continues to struggle with his fitness.

Football League World has asked their Wrexham Fan pundit, Liam Grice, if he believes the number 10 still has a place in the team once he has fully recovered from his latest shin injury.

"It's really not been the season many of us expected for Paul Mullin," he started.

"We knew the step-up in quality would be difficult for everybody to adapt to, but I thought the one player that would adapt to it well would have been Mullin."

"Obviously, he’s struggled with a lot of injuries and these last couple of years they’ve been really bad. He’s had a rib injury, a really bad back injury and now this shin injury that's plagued him for a lot of this season."

Liam continued: "But I do think if we can get him fit and firing, he does have the immense ability to add to the quality of this squad and if he can link up and strike a partnership with Sam Smith in the way that he has with Ollie Palmer in the past, then those two could really be a dynamic duo to build our attack on.

"I definitely think they could do a job in League One and maybe even higher if we were to get promoted. So, I think competition is good, but hopefully Parkinson will see the quality that Mullin can bring to this squad."

Wrexham may already be preparing for life after Mullin

This season has been tough for Mullin, and after playing a huge role in Wrexham's two promotions, he has had to watch on from the sidelines for the majority of the year while he recovers from multiple blows.

He has started just nine league games in 2024/25, and he has struggled to make his mark in the third tier, scoring only three times.

The addition of Smith for £2m in the January transfer window perhaps shows that the Red Dragons are starting to plan for life without Mullin, and at 26, he is just starting to enter his prime.

A favourite of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the 30-year-old has been incredible for Wrexham, but the more these injuries stack up, the harder it will be to find form. With promotion to the Championship an extremely realistic ambition, Parkinson cannot afford to wait around for his number 10 to get back to full fitness.