Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenneye's investment in Wrexham has left them in the red by up to £20million, a football finance expert has claimed.

However, according to Kieran Maguire, the Hollywood pair would still make a profit if they were to sell the club today. The Deadpool star and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator have transformed the Welsh side's fortunes since taking the helm around four years ago, lifting them from non-league obscurity to the top end of League One.

The meteoric rise has come at a significant cost, as outlined by Maguire on the latest Price of Football podcast, despite the attention drawn by the Welcome to Wrexham documentary.

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The University of Liverpool lecturer said: “Looking at the losses, Reynolds and McElhenney acquired the club in November 2020. Between that season and 2023, which is effectively two and a half years, they lost £8m, despite all of the benefits of the globalisation of the brand and having international sponsors.

“In terms of putting money into the club, I think you can probably at least double that, so they're probably down somewhere in the region of £18m to £20m as an overall estimate.”

While those figures may raise eyebrows, Wrexham's unique financial situation warrants further investigation. The main cause of the losses in the early days of Reynolds and McElhenney's ownership stems from the club's lowly position in the football pyramid.

Wrexham had been stuck in the National League for more than a decade and were in need of urgent investment. Enter the two actors, who immediately injected £2m on acquiring the club from the Wrexham Supporters Trust.

Maguire said most of the initial outlay went on player salaries to encourage the likes of star striker Paul Mullin to drop down the leagues. As per ESPN, this was once referred to by figures within the club as the "Wrexham tax", and Maguire believes the wages dished by the owners are the highest in non-league history

He said: “I estimate that in the National League, they were paying an average of £3,000 a week. Certainly, some high-profile players were on at least twice that, which is unheard of as far as National League wages are concerned.

“If you talk to people in League One and League Two, players were willing to drop down two divisions to join Wrexham. It's a professional career so you follow the money.”

Another big investment saw Reynolds and McElhenney loan the club £3.67m, which was largely spent on buying the Racecourse Ground from neighbours Wrexham University in June 2022. Other infrastructure costs included upgrades to the owners' box, buying electronic advertising hoardings to go around the pitch and installing a new state-of-the-art gym for the players.

The pitch itself proved problematic, as McElhenney was shown in an early episode of Welcome to Wrexham, recoiling at the £100,000 cost of laying a new one only for surface defects to force them to spend £200,000 more.

Some of the figures might seem eyewatering, but the result is that Phil Parkinson's side have risen quickly up the leagues. Wrexham won the National League title in 2023 before securing back-to-back promotions by finishing second in League Two last year.

The upshot is that turnover has quadrupled from £2.5m in 2019 to £10.5m in 2023, thanks to big-name sponsorships with companies like United Airlines, TikTok and Reynolds' Aviation Gin brand. Increased merchandise and ticket sales have also helped offset Wrexham's losses as fans from across the globe now flock to matches.

Attendances at the Racecourse Ground have risen above 13,000 on several occasions this season, with shirts selling in the 10s of thousands each year. Income levels are topped up by enhanced solidarity payments and TV money as they climb up the leagues.

One amount that is glaringly absent from the club's accounts is the sum earned from the smash-hit documentary starring their owners. The surprising reason for this is that Wrexham do not actually gain any direct financial benefit from the series, which airs on Disney+ in the UK and via FX-on-Hulu in the United States.

The information was disclosed by club director and former EFL chief Shaun Harvey during a fan board meeting in April last year. However, the meeting's minutes state: “What the club does receive is a marketing platform to increase the value of all our sponsorship investors and greater exposure of the club which is driving retail sales.”

Wrexham's increased revenue has assisted in navigating the EFL's Financial Fair Play Rules, as current regulations allow League One sides to spend 60 per cent of their turnover on wages and transfer fees.

While the club doesn't have to offer as many financial incentives to attract players these days, the owners are certainly no mugs. They will be aware that even more cash will need to be spent to compete if they do reach the Championship.

Perhaps with this in mind, they recently welcomed the Allyn family from Skaneateles, New York, as Wrexham's new minority investors. The family previously owned US medical device manufacturing firm Welch Allyn Inc, before selling it in a deal reportedly worth more than $2billion in 2015.

The announcement coincided with a new £11.3m share issue by the club's parent company. The overall conclusion from Wrexham's financial affairs is that the losses incurred by Reynolds and McElhenney may look painful on the surface.

However, a number of savvy business moves have helped safeguard their investment to a large extent. Maguire recently estimated that Wrexham could sell today for anywhere between £20m to £30m, as long as the owners remain involved in some capacity.

Speaking on his latest podcast, he voiced confidence that they would be happy with the arrangement because of their bond with supporters. Maguire said: “If they were to sell the club today, then they would be able to sell and recoup all of those losses.

“If I was looking to buy Wrexham Football Club, I would want to buy it with Reynolds and McElhenney involved as part of the deal for five years, because they are part of the brand of Wrexham.

“It looks really genuine in terms of the enjoyment and the support that they get from the relationship with the club. They are lifelong fans so they would want to keep that relationship.”