Sam Jones joins Cheltenham Town on-loan
Shrewsbury Town can confirm that Sam Jones has joined Cheltenham Town on-loan until January 2019.
The 26-year-old joined Shrewsbury from Grimsby Town in January 2018, but has found his opportunities limited, appearing just five times in the second-half of last season, scoring 1 goal.
“Obviously it’s a good opportunity for Sam to get games”, said Askey.
“We’ve got quite a lot of midfield players, so due to a lack of opportunities for him we feel that it’s best for him and obviously Sam feels it’s a good opportunity for himself.
“They (Cheltenham) are struggling at the moment, but it’s a club where he will get games and that’s what he needs. He obviously only played five times for Shrewsbury last season, so it gives him an opportunity to get back playing again, get some goals and hopefully comes January he will be raring to go for us if he’s needed.”
Sam hasn’t been involved in the matchday-18 this season and Askey believes the loan will give him an opportunity to show what he is capable of.
“You’re obviously looking at players when you first come in as manager and I was hoping for a little bit more from Sam.
“Hopefully going out and getting games he can show me what he can do. He has got goals in him, but at the moment it just hasn’t worked for him.
“When I’ve spoken to him he feels that his best position is as a centre-forward. When I came in my opinion of him was of an attacking midfield player, but I think Sam wants to play more as a number nine than a midfield player.”
Sam becomes the third senior player, after Bryn Morris and Luke Hendrie, to head out on-loan this summer, but John admitted that the door isn’t closed on any of them.
“If anybody starts to do well then you’ve got to look at it”, said Askey.
“Obviously it depends on how we are doing as well, but hopefully he can show what he can do and the results go for us as well. It’s a good chance for him because at the moment the squad is overloaded with midfield players, so we needed to get one or two out.”