Gaffer looking to add to his three new signings
The January transfer window has seen Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Hurst make three additions to his squad already.These additions come in the shape of Aristote Nsiala, Alex Rodman and Freddie Ladapo who all arrived in the first week on January and have all since made their debuts for the club.
Town’s gaffer spoke to the press about the window:
“Most managers will be looking for players, or options, or maybe waiting for other clubs – so as I’ve said before it will be a long January,” Hurst said.
“We’re hopeful of getting a player or two in for the weekend, but if not I’d certainly expect it to happen by the end of January. And as always, the sooner the better.
“But as always there are a lot of stumbling blocks in place.”
With Ivan Toney, George Waring and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake finishing their loan spells and Ajay Leitch-Smith still out injured, Town have only one fit striker in the squad, Freddie Ladapo.
Hurst said: “I don’t want Freddie to come here and think by default he’s going to be in the team every week. I want competition for him, or a partner.
“I’m looking at anyone who will come in and improve us, in truth. Whether that’s someone playing on a Sunday morning or someone at a Premier League club playing in their Under-23s.
“Some criteria which I’ve spoken about in the past are athleticism and a bit of pace, which has been introduced. I’m not saying there won’t be more of that, but I’d rather look at things like that, than where players have played.”
Nsiala and Rodman both played under Hurst at Grimsby Town, which has led some to speculate that more of Hurst’s ex-players will be coming in.
Hurst said: “If you’ve worked with players before, no matter what level that is, if you feel they are of sufficient quality – it’s an advantage. Because the character side and the player-manager relationship has already been built.
“I can assure people it’s not just a case of only looking at those players – it’s far from it.
“But if it’s a 50/50 call and you can’t see much difference between two players and you’ve worked with one, I’d suggest that more often than not the manager will go for the one he’s worked with.”