Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury Town have continued to strengthen their squad with the capture of Antoni Sarcevic on a two-year contract.

The 24-year-old arrives at Greenhous Meadow from manager Micky Mellon’s former club Fleetwood Town.

He has previously been at Crewe Alexandra and Chester City having started out as a youngster at Manchester City.

Assistant manager Mike Jackson was pleased to get the deal over the line.

“We have known about him for a while,” he told ShrewsWeb.

“Obviously we have played against him quite a few times and we have had him watched throughout the season and he is somebody we targeted probably months before the end of the season.

“He is a good player. A good age, a good size and technically very good, especially in the final thirds of the pitch and he likes to get a goal as well. 

“He has a good set piece delivery so he ticks a lot of boxes of what we are trying to do and he is a good character as well.”

Manchester-born Sarcevic was the goalscoring hero as Fleetwood won promotion to League One in May 2014 when the Cod Army won the play-off final at Wembley.

He has a couple of years’ experience at League One level, something in common with Town’s previous three signings – Olly Lancashire, Gary Deegan and Louis Dodds.

And Jackson said this was something the club was focusing on when it came to recruitment.

“You need that experience of playing at these levels. It is massive,” he said.

“We found that out last year and we knew it anyway going into the league that you need experience of playing at this level. It doesn’t mean that people cant step up – they can. 

“People like Abs (Abu Ogogo) have shown that but we are looking for people and trying to get them in at the right age and getting a balance to the squad.

“Antoni fits in with that at the age he is and there is room to actually develop him as well so that is something we are looking at.”

Jackson added that despite Sarcevic’s most recent taste of the third tier being a relegation battle, the experience will do him the world of good.

“It is hard for players when they get caught in those  situations,” he said.

“Everyone will learn from it but last season will be part of his learning and it is good for him coming here knowing what it is like to be in those sort of situations even though we don’t want to be in them situations again!

“We want to recruit these players to allow us to keep building not just this season but moving forward. Players that have played at the level – a good age that can train and we can work with.

“The work that has been done for the last four or five months is all starting to come together. It is a lot of hard work, it doesn’t just happen.

“People say ‘why don’t you go and get him’ but it is not as easy as that. There are a lot of things that come into consideration. 

“There is money, ambition of the player, ambition of the club. It is about the manager selling it to the player and the player wanting to come in. They have all got to fit and that is what we have got to look at when we are looking at a player.”