Former Bristol City playmaker Lee Tomlin is training with National League Wrexham as he looks to find himself a new club having been released earlier in the season by Cardiff City.
Tomlin is a free agent and has been working with Phil Parkinson's squad at Stansty Park, although Bristol Live understands it's a means to maintain fitness rather than a trial to earn a contract as his preference is to stay in the EFL. There is, however, a desire from Wrexham to bring him to the Racecourse Ground permanently.
The midfielder was released by the Bluebirds in October, with his contract terminated eight months in advance, after a series of injury issues around his groin that led to tension between him and then-manager Mick McCarthy.
Tomlin struggled for consistency in selection throughout his time in south Wales but did win Cardiff's Player of the Year award for the 2019/.20 season after some sparkling performances towards the end of that campaign, including the 1-0 Severnside Derby win at Ashton Gate that led to Lee Johnson's dismissal.
The 33-year-old made 60 appearances for City, both as a loanee and permanent player from January 2016 to the summer of 2017, but after an initial dazzling spell on hire from Bournemouth, he was unable to replicate those performances and was sold to Cardiff.
Tomlin, who has previously disclosed battles with mental health, has been particularly active on social media in recent weeks, taking part in Q&As with fans and also delivering a statement in which he revealed a desire to get back to the "machine" he was two years ago.
"In the past few months I've been waking up like it’s an accident," he wrote on Instagram. "I’m back on this and getting to the place where I was two years ago.
"Life is full of ups and downs that’s part of life, but dealing with it is a different matter. We all deal with it in different ways, so I dealt with it by getting fit for the first time in my life properly and mentally I was a machine.
"But over the last two years I've gradually gone back to my old self and I don’t like it and only I can change that.
"So what I’m trying to say is do what YOU want to do in life that makes you happy and do what YOU want in life that you enjoy and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. Enjoy life we don’t have don’t have as much time as you think."
Wrexham are co-owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and boast the biggest budget in the National League, tempting several players from League One and League Two level to play in the fifth tier. The Dragons lie seventh in the National League, nine points off leaders Stockport.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the division Chesterfield appointed Paul Cook as manager following his dismissal at Ipswich Town in December.
Cook, who was in contention to get the City job in the summer of 2020 with the board eventually deciding on Dean Holden, was previously in charge of the Spireites from 2012-2015.
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