Omar Beckles signs for an undisclosed fee from Accrington Stanley
Shrewsbury Town are delighted to announce the signing of Omar Beckles on a three-year deal from Accrington Stanley
Beckles joins for an undisclosed fee and becomes Paul Hurst’s 13th new signing of the summer.
Town have been interested in the 25 year-old centre-half for a while and Omar is pleased to finally get it done.
“I’m happy to finally get the deal over the line and I’m looking forward to getting going”, Beckles told ShrewsWeb.
“I think I heard about the interest just before the season started and obviously you try your best to be as professional as possible. It’s a bit unsettling because obviously I want to play as high as I can, so when that opportunity came I definitely didn’t want to turn it down.
“I’m happy to be here and part of this new challenge. We’ve started off well, so hopefully we can continue that. It’s always nice to come into a good atmosphere and I can tell already that it’s a good vibe around the ground, so hopefully we can keep it up.”
When Beckles joined Accrington last summer it was the first time he had played in the Football League, but he believes he has learnt a lot throughout his career and is ready to make the step-up.
“I like to say I’m a ball playing centre-half that’s capable of playing both sides of the game”, Omar said.
“After leaving Millwall as a youngster, I went out to the Glenn Hoddle Academy for a year and a half. It was a good experience and technically it did me wonders.
“After that I did the non-league rounds and learnt my trade a bit more as a defender and now that I’ve stepped up I like to think that I’ve been able to show that I can do both the defensive side and show my ability on the ball.”
Omar joined up with the squad on Tuesday and will now be working hard to prove to the manager that he is ready to feature.
“Hopefully the bedding in process won’t be too long and I can get playing and show everyone what I can do”, said Beckles.
“I played against the manager before when he was at Grimsby, so I have been aware of him. It’s great what he’s doing because it’s showing that the gap isn’t actually as wide as some people make it out to be. Lads that are in non-league can actually step up to the plate.
“It’s going to be tough. I’m going to have to adjust to the new environment and get my fitness up to where it needs to be. But, I am up for the challenge and it’s only going to make me a better player at the end of the day.”