Cardiff City should push for Wrexham transfer - Dan Scarr has become League One promotion expert | OneFootball

Cardiff City should add experience to their squad with the addition of Wrexham defender Dan Scarr.

Cardiff City have enjoyed a magnificent start to their League One campaign, and the Bluebirds could yet further strengthen their squad as they seek to sustain a title push in the third-tier.

Cardiff’s relegation from the Championship last season has been followed by the appointment of former Rochdale boss Brian Barry-Murphy, which had to have been widely viewed as a major risk, despite years of links to other EFL jobs following his stint at Man City.

However, despite the Bluebirds only bringing in one new signing this summer, that being former West Ham United goalkeeper Nathan Trott on loan from Copenhagen, they have been revitalised under Barry-Murphy’s management.

Prioritising and focusing on utilising their impressive academy setup has seen Barry-Murphy cultivate a side, albeit very early on, built on youth, with some experienced players still integrated into the fold, such as Chris Willock and Callum Robinson.

An inevitable connection back to the supporters has been built, and City are riding a wave at the moment, with an unbeaten start to their League One campaign as they sit at the top-of-the-table early on.

As fun as it has been, and as exciting as it appears to be, in order for Cardiff to be valued as serious title contenders, they perhaps do need a bit more nous and experience, particularly defensively, and one man that appears ideal would be Wrexham defender Dan Scarr.

Cardiff City should push to sign Dan Scarr

Dan Scarr, 30, began his career in non-league with the likes of Causeway United, Redditch United and Stourbridge, before joining Birmingham City in January 2017.

The Bromsgrove-born centre-back has since enjoyed an impressive career in the EFL, making nearly 200 appearances in Leagues One and Two, as well as the Championship, for Wrexham, as well as Wycombe Wanderers, Walsall and Plymouth Argyle.

The ideal squad man, Scarr wouldn’t necessarily always be seen as the first name on the teamsheet for most teams, and most supporters, but he has always shown a defensive tenacity and awareness that makes him a very solid operator when required.

To go with that, Scarr has also now gained a lot of valuable EFL experience, but also promotion-winning experience that could be vital to a young Cardiff squad and back-line.

In the 2017/18 season, he played a part in helping Wycombe gain automatic promotion to League One, and he has helped win automatic promotion in two of the last three League One campaigns, too; firstly helping Plymouth win the title in 2023 and then playing a part for Wrexham last season.

More of a regular at Plymouth, but still not a nailed down and guaranteed starter, Scarr contributed admirably to those promotion-winning teams without being the first choice.

Albeit not necessarily a fulcrum of the Wrexham side last season, Scarr still gained plaudits from supporters for being more than up to it when he did stand in for the Red Dragons.

More of a no-nonsense defender, rather than the outright ball-players that Barry-Murphy seemingly prefers his defenders to be, Scarr makes up for a limited technical quality with supreme defensive awareness and organisation, which is still required in a Cardiff side that needs depth and experience as the season goes on and winter hits.

Scarr had a few runs in the Wrexham side last season but spent the majority of the campaign on the bench, but when called upon he put in some excellent performances, most notably at the end of last season.

With Wrexham holding off the likes of Charlton Athletic and Stockport County towards the end of the campaign, Scarr started the final three games of the campaign, with Wrexham winning all three to finish as runners-up to Birmingham.

The penultimate game of the season saw Wrexham demolish Charlton by three goals to nil at the Racecourse, with Scarr supreme in that game, playing to the right of Wrexham's back-three made up of Lewis Brunt and Max Cleworth, dominating Tyreece Campbell and helping to completely overpower any sense of a Charlton comeback with his physicality - something Cardiff may well require as this season rolls on.

That is the type of profile and level of defender that Cardiff are perhaps most keen on in the final few days of the window, someone who could provide a raised level of quality and experience without stifling or blocking the development of their array of youngsters.

There are slight defensive concerns for Cardiff City

In their opening five matches of the 2025/26 League One campaign, the Bluebirds have conceded just one goal, which was a penalty to go behind on the opening day of the campaign against Peterborough United at the Cardiff City Stadium.

That remarkably impressive record can be put down to the control that Barry-Murphy insists his team upon having, whereby the opposition simply don’t have enough of the ball to consistently threaten.

However, it is also an unsustainable defensive record and the underlying data would suggest there will be a slight regression to the mean at some stage, albeit they should remain strong.

Cardiff have an xGA (expected goals against) of 1.26 per game, which would mean they would have been expected to have conceded around six goals so far this season.

A lack of efficiency from the attack combined with either remarkably impressive or slightly unsustainable goalkeeping has kept that number way down.

Six in five is still a good defensive showing, but it does suggest that things will slightly turn at the back at some stage, and bringing in some extra assurances with the experience and profile of someone like Scarr would appear an ideal addition.

He wouldn't arrive as a guaranteed starter, nor likely as someone who would expect that, but Scarr would certainly be someone that Cardiff could look to when they need to see out matches if they were to revert to a back three at the end of games in a pragmatic manner, with that system deployed by Barry-Murphy at Rochdale.

It is unlikely, and perhaps unfair, to expect Dylan Lawlor, in particular, to feature in all 46 games this season alongside Will Fish, and Scarr would offer more than just much-needed respite for the 19-year-old.

The pedigree and quality of Scarr would raise the level of Cardiff, whilst also affording them the ability to play a different system and style when the time comes, should they need to see things out.