Wrexham boss responds to speculation linking them with audacious Wilshere move

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson has responded to the rumours regarding an audacious swoop for free agent Jack Wilshere.

The former Arsenal and England midfielder has been without a club since leaving Bournemouth in the summer.

Reports had suggested that the National League side were considering an eye-raising approach for the 29-year-old, who has 34 caps for the Three Lions.

The Welsh club have been in the headlines ever since Hollywood A-list duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney completed their takeover earlier this year.

But speaking to the media following Wrexham's 1-0 win away at Dover on Saturday, Parkinson quickly dismissed the theory that a possible approach for Wilshere was in his mind.

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On paper it always looked an overly-ambitious link. Wilshere had never played outside the Premier League prior to his second stint at Bournemouth in the second half of last season.

He played 17 times as the Cherries fell short at the Championship play-off semi-final stage last term.

He was recently invited back to Arsenal to help build up his fitness. There had even been rumours that he may earn a short-term deal but it appears that the arrangement is purely for fitness purposes.

"I went there, very kindly invited by them to come and train, get my fitness back, which I've done," the former West Ham man told talkSPORT.

"I am [training with the first team]. They've got a lot of midfielders."

Wilshere is also thought to be doing his coaching badges and was pictured on the bench during Arsenal's under-21s' EFL Trophy game with Ipswich last week.

Wrexham's famous owners have made their intentions pretty clear. Speaking on their first visit to the club earlier this season, when asked about what the main ambition is Reynolds said: "We'd be lying if the dream wasn't Premier League."

McElhenney said: "No one has gone from our league all the way up to the Premier League but some clubs have gone from the National League to the Championship.

"So we're obviously going to try and go above that - maybe this is just my own naivety.

"[But] we clearly have the structure and system potentially to allow us to grow at that scale. Why not dream big?"

Today's win over Dover was a fifth victory in their last seven games. It was only achieved thanks to Jordan Davies' late goal against a Dover side who are winless in 18 league games and are 22 points adrift of safety after being docked 12 points for being unable to fulfil fixtures last season.

Speaking about the win, Parkinson said: "It was a tough game. We had a lot of chances and couldn't get that first goal. You do start thinking it's not going to be our day.

"But we kept patient and kept chipping away and got our rewards in the end. After losing on Tuesday it was important to get back to winning ways."

Wrexham are now fourth and trail leaders Chesterfield by just three points.