Shrewsbury Town boss Graham Turner today hailed new signing James Collins – comparing him to a young Steve Bull.

Collins, 20, joined Town from Aston Villa yesterday, penning an 18-month contract and going straight into the squad for this afternoon’s clash with Morecambe.

And Turner sees parallels with Bull, who was a raw 21-year-old when the then-Wolves boss took him to Molineux from West Brom in 1986.

Bull went on to inspire Wolves to back-to-back promotions, eventually scoring 249 goals in 475 games in the old gold shirt.

“James reminds me in some ways of Steve Bull when I first signed him,” said Turner.

“He’s not got the best of first touches at the moment but he gets himself in good positions and he scores goals.

“Matching Steve’s goals might be a bit much but he’s strong and if he gets a goalscoring chance then nothing stands in his way.

“He’s signed an 18-month contract but we hope he stays with us for much longer than that,” added the Town boss.

“He’s going to get better with experience.”

Meanwhile, winger Mark Wright is eager to continue where he left off after agreeing a permanent switch to Town.

Wolverhampton-born Wright, 28, who is now based in Telford, has put pen to paper on a two-and-half year deal after scoring 10 goals in 24 games while on loan from Bristol Rovers.

“I’m very pleased to get it sorted because it’s been dragging on for a bit,” said Wright.

“I always wanted to stay and I said that when the club first started asking me.

“From the moment I signed for Bristol Rovers the fans didn’t really take to me there, and that was a big issue for me,” he added.

“The fans were on my back a fair bit for no particular reason but that’s part of football.

“The fans at Shrewsbury took to me straight away and I’ve been doing well.

“I had a good run when I was at MK Dons as well, scoring 13 League goals in a season — hopefully I can beat that this time.”