Three games into the Championship season, still without a win, and the injury list is already stacking up. Wrexham needed to move — and on Thursday, they did.
Phil Parkinson confirmed the signing of wing-back Issa Kaboré on a three-year deal, with defender Jacques Ekomié following shortly after on a four-year contract. Both fees remain undisclosed. Two signings in one afternoon when your squad is thin and your confidence is thinner is exactly the kind of decisive window activity that can shift a season's early narrative.
Kaboré's return is the safer of the two bets
The 25-year-old Burkina Faso international was one of Wrexham's standout performers last season — 32 appearances on the right, key to a seventh-place Championship finish. Parkinson knows what he's getting. The rebuild question is whether Kaboré can hold off Danny Imray, who arrived from Crystal Palace this summer and has already registered a goal and an assist in three games. Competition for that right-side berth just got genuinely interesting.
Ekomié is the bigger unknown. The 23-year-old Gabon international joins from Angers, where he made 33 appearances in all competitions last season in Ligue 1. A four-year deal suggests Wrexham see him as a long-term piece, not a stopgap. He'll slot in at left back while Liberato Cacace — limited throughout his debut season in 2025/26 — continues his injury recovery, with George Thomason currently holding the position.
The injury picture heading into Friday
That context matters, because Wrexham's squad availability right now is stretched. Thomason, Cacace, and midfielder Ben Sheaf are all ruled out. Josh Windass — their top scorer last season — is a game-time call.
If Kaboré and Ekomié's registrations and international clearance come through in time, both could feature when Birmingham City — co-owned by Tom Brady — visit the Racecourse Ground on Friday. A Wrexham side still searching for its first win of the season, at home, against another celebrity-backed project with something to prove. The Championship doesn't do quiet weeks.
Parkinson's side have drawn 1-1 twice — against Cardiff and Watford — and lost 1-0 to Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup. The football has been there. The results haven't. Two new defenders and a familiar attacking outlet might be exactly what shifts that equation — but they need points on Friday, not potential.
