Why Wrexham Women Have Released Legendary All-Time Leading Goalscorer

Wrexham have announced that legendary striker Rosie Hughes will leave the club as a free agent when her contract expires this summer.

The 30-year-old is the club’s all-time leading goalscorer and has played a key role in their rise from the Adran North to becoming Welsh champions for the first time this season. She is one of seven players who will leave the club this summer after its retained list was announced.

Hughes quickly established herself as a Wrexham favorite when she scored 24 goals in nine appearances to help the club win promotion from the Adran North three years ago. Even this past season, she managed to score nine league goals from just six starts—the second-highest tally in the first-team squad.

As well as becoming the first woman to score 100 goals for Wrexham Women, she also became the first to make 100 appearances for the club since the women’s side was reformed in 2018. In total, she scored 136 goals in 115 competitive first-team appearances during her five-year spell.

Why Rosie Hughes Is Leaving Wrexham

Hughes is a Wrexham legend, but she will not be part of the squad next season after the club decided against offering her a new contract.

She became an instant star at Wrexham following Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds’s takeover of the club, scoring 90 goals across her first two seasons. Her exploits were also captured by the FX documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham,” which shed light on her unique life as a star of the women’s side while also holding down a job as a prison officer in the city.

Hughes played a key role in Wrexham’s rise to the Adran Premier but has seen her role diminish during that journey. She scored four league goals in 12 starts last season but started just six games as they won the Welsh title for the first time in their history.

Her exit is a reflection of the club’s continued growth, which has brought huge change over the last five years. After the takeover was completed, Wrexham Women set the ambitious goal of winning the league and qualifying for the Champions League. They would not have been able to do that without making ruthless decisions.

Wrexham Women Retained List

Wrexham are the only club in the Adran Premier to have players on full-time contracts, and they also became the first Welsh club in history to pay a transfer fee for a player when they signed Maria Francis-Jones from The New Saints. The Red Dragons made more history when they became the first women’s team in the Welsh leagues to own their own stadium outright after completing the purchase of The Rock at the start of the season.

With a debut Champions League campaign set to begin next month, they will look to make more history as they aim to become the first Welsh side to progress beyond the first qualifying round. Even after huge changes at the club, more are needed if they are to match those lofty ambitions.

The price of that sporting success is the human cost of saying goodbye to so many players who have served the club so well. Hughes will leave alongside Neve Adams, Leah Burke, Abbie Iddenden, Carra Jones, Erin Lovett and Hannah Snape when their contracts expire this summer.

To keep solid foundations in place for next season, Nat Clarke, Liz Craven, Phoebe Davies, Liv Fuller, Sarah Harvey, Faye Knox, Mariam Mahmood, Evie Sadler, Josie Smith and Ava Suckley have all been offered new deals. Katie Barker, Jodie Bartle, Maria Francis-Jones and Lili Jones remain under contract for next season, while Evie Holt and Mikayla Wildgoose will continue their recovery from injury with the club. Keren Allen, Chloe Ankers and Mari Gibbard have opted to retire.

Wrexham Women will go in search of more history this summer, but they will do it without their all-time leading scorer.

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