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Ex-Prem player offers to come out of retirement to play for Wrexham and donate wages to charity

Ex-Prem player Hal Robson-Kanu offers to come out of retirement to play for Wrexham and donate his entire wages to charity.

The 33 year old has offered his services to Wrexham, making the hint to co-owner Ryan Reynolds via social media following the league leaders’ victory against Yeovil Town on Tuesday night.

Wrexham are on the brink of promotion, needing one win from their final two games to complete a storming return to the EFL for the first time in 15 years.

And now Robson-Kanu is the latest man seemingly interested in linking up with the club while offering any salary he would get to a charity of Wrexham fans’ choice.

Commenting under an Instagram post from Reynolds, Robson-Kanu said: “@vancityreynolds I’ll come out of retirement and come and play for @Wrexham_afc next season. I’ll also give my salary to charity of the fans choosing…”

Robson-Kanu last played for West Bromwich Albion, and also the Wales national football team.

Initially playing on the wing for Wales, he played as a striker during the team’s run to the semi finals of UEFA Euro 2016.

He began his career at Arsenal as a youngster, before being released when he turned 15 and moved to Reading.

He spent time on a loan with Southend United, Swindon Town and Reading after graduating the academy in 2007.

In 2009 he made his debut for the first team of Reading. He was mainly a substitute during his first year, but he played a major role in the team during the 2011-12 Championship-winning campaign.

In 2012, he made his Premier League debut and netted 30 goals in the 228 matches he played for the club until his release in 2016.

Then he signed with West Brom, before being released in May 2021 after five years.

Robson-Kanu represented England at the under-19 and under-20 levels. In 2010, Robson-Kanu switched to Wales, his grandmother’s country, and played for the under-21 team before making his senior debut against Croatia in May of that year. Robson-Kanu represented Wales at UEFA Euro 2016 where they reached the semi-finals.

Youth career
1999–2004 – Arsenal
2004–2007 – Reading

Senior career (apps and goals in league only)
2007–2016 – Reading – 198 games (24 goals)
2008 → Southend United (loan) – 22 games (5 goals)
2009 → Swindon Town (loan) – 20 games (4 goals)
2016–2021 – West Bromwich Albion – 143 games (21 goals)


International career
2007–2008 – England U19 – 2 games (0 goals)
2009 – England U20 – 1 game (0 goals)
2010 – Wales U21 – 4 games (2 goals)
2010–2021 – Wales – 46 games (5 goals)

When asked – in interview with The Athletic in 2022 – if retirement from playing footballer altogether was on his mind having already stepped away from Wales duty: “I wouldn’t say no. I’ve not played a professional game for 12 months so one could argue, ‘You are retired’. But I’m fitter than the majority of the players playing professional football — that was always one of my strong attributes. And I’ve got a wealth of experience. It’s nice knowing that and I’m willing to apply it, but it has to be right for me.”

He is the founder and CEO of The Turmeric Co, a health drink brand which saw a 600 per cent increase in sales during the Covid pandemic, but h explained that he dealt with “about 300 emails a day” and had “about 15 to 20 meetings”.

The last time he played a game within professional football was the 23rd of May 2021, which saw West Brom lose 3-1 to Leeds United at Elland Road.

Robson-Kanu found the net that day but it was a campaign that saw his West Brom side were relegated to the Championship after one year back in the top flight.

Following the final whistle, he made his way off the pitch little did he know it would probably be for the last time. After five years at the club, his time at the club was up.

Conversations were had about him staying, but Robson-Kanu says that the two parties were clearly at odds, as The Athletic: “It was almost like, ‘What direction are we going?’. ‘We’re going in this direction’, and I said, ‘I’m going in this direction’. Looking at the season, it shows that’s where they were indicating they would be and what the plan was for the club.”

It wasn’t a plan he was on board with: “It was like; no, coming down from the Premier League, you want to be going straight back up. Why not? Look at Fulham. So that was that.”

He had no plans after that, so he turned his focus away from it and spend time with his family and while there were mentions of having offers from Championship clubs and also from abroad, nothing tempted him into making a decision.

“It was like, ‘OK, no problem’. If I wanted those opportunities I could probably get them if I spoke to them now and showed my fitness. So there wasn’t a massive amount of urgency in terms of making any decisions.

“The biggest thing I was looking at was a project,” he says. “In football, everything is very much short term — the turnover of managers, the change of ownership, of players — and that is often the mindset of the club and ownership of the club. When you’ve had a career at the top level you can identify very early on if a club you’re coming into is a project as opposed to short-termism, where it’s like, ‘We need to win the first three games of next season. If we don’t, there’s going to be massive change’.

“I wasn’t able to identify that with the opportunities I had, including the club I was (already) at. That was the biggest thing for me. If it was like: ‘this is the project, this is your role in the project — senior player, going to offer value on the pitch but also significant value off the pitch’, then that would make me think, ‘OK this would be interesting’.”

After being questioned if retirement had been on his mind at any point the he says: “I wouldn’t say no. I’ve not played a professional game for 12 months so one could argue, ‘You are retired’. But I’m fitter than the majority of the players playing professional football — that was always one of my strong attributes. And I’ve got a wealth of experience. It’s nice knowing that and I’m willing to apply it, but it has to be right for me.”

This is what fans said as the ex-Prem player offers to come out of retirement to play for Wrexham and donate wages to charity…

@benyorath: Imagine If @GarethBale11 made the same offer.

@davebithell: Rather have mullin and lee.

@Jobe_rogerson95: I remember slating him for being awful against Belgium and then he went and pulled a worldie out of the bag. Id take him to be fair. He has high level experience.

@UnlockedWelsh: DO IT @VancityReynolds

@JackieBettison: My initial thought….Wow! My second thought… I’m more than happy and proud of what our players have achieved this season through guts and determination. I don’t want to become a clown club I just want real players with real passion to play for us nothing more nothing less

@JohnSettatree: please make it happen!

@allnewswba: He’d be very good in that league

@gmhayes_2012: Think we’ll be alright ta

@Pugy2006: Just getting fucking silly now.

@TomProspect: I really can’t stand this guy. Said he would never help our club out even if they begged him now he must need some exposure for his turmeric company so will pretend he’s Welsh again #readingfc

@TOWNAREMASSIVE: Surly not 😱🤯

@Madden19D: “He couldn’t, could he?!” It’s only robson-kanu lads

@WrexhamCookie: No thanks

@Billy_Will_: Mental there’s Wrexham fans saying no, how entitled could you be

@ewanmac19: Fuck is going on

@MarkRandles9: 🎶 Hal-Robson-Kanu….. Hal-Robson-Kanu… He is as welsh as a Zebra but he ul fooking do 🎶

@wrexhamcarl: Not sure about this to be honest – definitely worth a trial in pre season but not for me!

@ryanthecreatr: Hal Robson-Kanu being a fame grabber again by the looks of things. He’ll be looking for a place at Euro ‘24 (if we qualify) again i suppose…

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