Ollie Westbury discusses Shrewsbury signing and transfer activity change

  • 3 months ago
Jonny Drury sat down with Ollie Westbury to discuss Shrewsbury's first three signings of the transfer window.
They look at the new boys who have come through the door - and whether the early market moves represent a change in tactics in the transfer market.
Transcript
00:00Oli, a busy week for Salop last week. Fans have been waiting for signings for a little
00:14while now since the season ended and players have gone out the door but no one had come
00:17in until last week. Three moves, Toto and Siala comes back to the club. Harrison Biggins
00:23and George Lloyd have also been brought in. What's your initial thoughts, obviously numbers-wise,
00:29it certainly helps with the players that have gone out the door. But have you been impressed
00:33by the business that Salop have done in recent days?
00:35I feel like it always happens, doesn't it? We wait ages for some news and then finally
00:39when I'm actually away on holiday it all seems to come across in one week. I don't really
00:45know. I suppose I've got mixed emotions on the Shrewsbury signings. They're hard, aren't
00:53they? I can't say we know a lot about them. I think it perhaps tells us a little bit about
01:01what we can perhaps expect to see over the coming few weeks and months as Town start
01:09to begin and put their squad together for the new season. Obviously Toto and Siala is
01:1632 and he's been given a two-year deal. I don't know a lot about him. Shrewsbury fans
01:22seem pretty happy with it. Obviously he's been at Fleetwood and Burton Albion in the
01:28last couple of years and George Lloyd is a relatively unproven striker from Cheltenham
01:35Town, a side who obviously got relegated last year. I suppose it feels like it's going to
01:44be a challenging summer for Town. Perhaps the days of signing, citing big names are
01:52perhaps behind them and more realistic expectations with regards to budgets and player expenditure
01:59is something that is needed.
02:02It seems that from these three signings we can maybe gauge that last summer they went
02:07for untested players. We know they brought in a few from the League of Ireland, a few
02:13players who played briefly in the Football League. These players have a bit more Football
02:18League experience, whether that be in League Two or in Siala's case with Shrewsbury in
02:22League One. Do you see that as the way forward for Shrewsbury, looking at more players that
02:29have got maybe a little bit more EFL experience rather than those young players, unproven
02:35players that came to the club last year?
02:39It seems that way a little bit, doesn't it? It seems that that's the way they might try
02:42to get around it, to get some form of experience. Are they going to be able to sign players
02:46from the likes of Shea Dunkley who have come from levels above any more? Unlikely. It looks
02:56like we're looking down the leagues, trying to recruit well-spot talent and make ourselves
03:01better in that department. I would have said that the more League One and League Two experience
03:10of English senior football, the better. I imagine that when it comes to it, and I don't
03:15expect these to happen too soon, but the loans will play a massive part too. The loan market
03:21is going to be incredibly important for Shrewsbury and they need to make sure that they get that
03:25right because it didn't quite work out for them last season at all.

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