Wrexham break their transfer record for Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson

Wrexham have signed goalkeeper Anthony Patterson from Sunderland on a four-year contract running to 2029/30. The fee is officially undisclosed, but it is reported as a club-record £8m, with the final value dependent on add-ons — the biggest outlay yet in the Hollywood-owned club's rise through the divisions.

Patterson, 26, leaves after a 17-year association with Sunderland: 169 competitive appearances and two play-off final promotions, first to the Championship and then to the Premier League. He fell out of the first-team picture last season and spent the second half of 2025/26 on loan at Millwall.

There is a reunion in it too. Phil Parkinson handed Patterson his Sunderland debut in 2020, and now gets a keeper he trusts for Wrexham's second Championship season. Patterson is the third signing of the summer at the Racecourse, following Danny Imray from Crystal Palace and Ben Whiteman from Preston North End.

The pattern is hard to miss: a promoted club breaking its transfer record on a goalkeeper, with owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney continuing to back the football operation at every level the club reaches. Survival was the public target after promotion; recruitment like this suggests the ambition inside the building runs higher.