Harry Lewis makes the move to Southampton
Young keeper Harry Lewis has agreed terms on a move which will see him join Premier League side Southampton on a permanent move.
The 17 year old has progressed through the youth ranks at Town and England and is a keeper highly regarded by both Town and the national set-up.
He signed pro terms with Town in February 2014 and has continued his progression under Danny Coyne and Micky Mellon, as well as Ian Dawes and coaches in the Academy side.
Micky Mellon confirmed the deal in his pre-match interview ahead of the Oldham Athletic JPT game;”Young Harry moves on, we have accepted a bid from Southampton for him and I believe the opportunity for him is great.
“In this day and age players know what is going on and the opportunity for Harry to go to Southampton and work with the England goalkeeping coach is a great one.
“We have been paid for his services and the club believes that the deal is the right one for him.
“He will finalise details with Southampton today and move to fantastic Premier League club.
“We wish him well for the future and hope that he can continue to develop into a terrific young keeper.”
Town are very strong in the goal keeping department with five pro keepers on the books. Micky spoke of the problem of trying to hold onto young players once a Premier League club expresses and interest in them;”We weighed everything up and when we asked Harry and his family they were excited about going to work with such a good club and with the England goalkeeping coach.
“It can only be good to help Harry’s pathway and we looked at the time it might take for Harry to play in our first team and when we weight everything up we felt it was fair all over that he got the opportunity to go to the Premier League.
“Sometimes you just can’t stand in people’s way and we have to accept that Shrewsbury at this minute in time is the type of club where we produce talent but then bigger clubs come and bat their eyelids at them and we then can’t keep them.
“It’s tough for me as the manager as you want to keep the best talent and make the team the best that you can, but we are not at the situation yet where we can compete with the bigger clubs.”
Harry has signed on a 3 year deal for an undisclosed fee.