Shrewsbury sign midfielder Doug Loft

The 31-year-old has been on trial with Town for the past few weeks and featured in the friendlies against Kidderminster, Bristol City, Burnley and Brentford.

Those performances have convinced manager John Askey to sign him on a permanent basis.

And the boss is confident he will prove a shred addition in what is a fairly young and inexperienced squad.

“Dougie comes in and adds experience,” Askey said.

“He has a good footballing brain and he can get goals. He will be a good addition.

“I think he showed what he is capable of against Brentford. We had spells where we didn’t have the ball and his football brain and knowing when to go tight and when to cover others – I was happy with that.

“It’s a very young squad and you do need experience. But the most important thing is we get good players in.”

Loft played more than 170 games for Port Vale between 2009 and 2014. He then joined Gillingham before heading to Colchester but suffered a bicep injury last season that ruled him out for four months.

Now though he is only looking forward and admitted he can’t wait for the 2018/19 season to get underway.

“I’m delighted to be here,” Loft said.

“It’s a new club, a new manager and I’m excited to play for him and really looking forward to it.

“The facilities, everything is there. They had a great season last year and we want to kick on from there and go for promotion.

"It’s a brilliant club and everything is there and I can’t wait to get going.”

On his injury, Loft said: “I had a very frustrating year last year with injuries but I’m fitter than I’ve ever been and I’m playing some good football so let’s get started with the season.

“I pulled my bicep in a freak injury in a game. I was shielding the ball, someone fell on me and it snapped my bicep.

“I was out for four months with that and it was horrible.

“We (Colchester) were going for promotion at the time and then we dropped off a bit so I was really disappointed not to be able to help the boys.

“But this is a fresh start this year, I want to play 50 games.

“I feel really good. The manager has obviously given me a lot of minutes, he’s watched me a lot over the years with Port Vale and knows how I play.

"I know I can bring a lot to his team and I will over this season.”