Wrexham axe eight players after promotion as club makes brutal announcement during Las Vegas trip

Wrexham have announced eight players are leaving the club after their promotion to League One.

The club, who are currently in Las Vegas celebrating the promotion to the third tier, announced that Aaron Hayden, Rob Lainton, Callum McFadzean, Ben Tozer, Jordan Tennicliffe, Luke Young, Owen Cushion and Dan Davies are all departing, having reached the end of their contracts.

Meanwhile, James McLean will have his contract automatically extended, and Steven Fletcher, Mark Howard and Aaron James will be offered new deals.

Young's departure will be particularly poignant for the Wrexham faithful, with the midfielder having made 259 appearances for the club, scored 22 goals, claimed back-to-back player of the season awards in 2019/20 and 2020/21 and twice won the club's goal of the season.

Meanwhile, club captain Tozer made 100 consecutive appearances for the club, and played every minute of their National League title-winning campaign.

Wrexham have announced the 34-year-old's departure as the centre-back shared Instagram stories of the side's celebratory trip to Las Vegas.

Elsewhere, 2018/19 player of the season Lainton is leaving after claiming 63-clean sheets, the third most in the club's history.

Tozer is among the eight players to be released by Wrexham (Getty)

Wrexham also announced they had exercised options to extend the contracts of youth team players Harry Ashfield, Callum Adwards, Liam Hall and James Rainbard for the 2024/25 season, while Harry Dean had been offered first-year professional terms.

Wrexham celebrated their promotion to League One with a party in Las Vegas for the second year running, with the trip paid for by the the club's Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

The Welsh outfit sealed a return to League One for the first time in almost two decades after finishing second in the fourth tier of English football, earning 88 points following 26 wins, ten draws and ten losses.

They were just pipped to the league title by Stockport County.