Shropshire Star

Patience the key in market for Shrewsbury Town

Sam Ricketts has compared the transfer window to a ‘cattle market’ after revealing he has been offered hundreds of players this summer.

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Shrewsbury boss Ricketts has made eight signings so far this window – the latest being right-back Donald Love on Friday – but explained he has been extremely selective to get the right players in.

The Welshman said patience is a key virtue when dealing with transfers, likening the process to a game of cat and mouse between clubs, players and agents.

“It can be a cattle market, it can be slow, then all of a sudden you need a decision within the next couple of hours,” said Ricketts.

“It’s always about trying to be as picky as you can to make sure you’re getting the right personalities and characters in, and obviously football ability and intelligence as well.

“At some point you have to say ‘we’ll take that one’. If you go too early you don’t know who comes along.

“Or if you wait too long you might not get anyone at all. It’s a little bit of a game of cat and mouse.”

Ricketts explained that carrying out due diligence on transfers was important, rather than casting aside suggestions.

When asked how many options he has been approached with, Ricketts said: “There have been hundreds. Sometimes you know enough about the player and you can say ‘no thank you’.

“Other times you have to do your research because you have to give it your full attention. There might be one player that is very, very special, you have to look into everything, which is why it takes so much time.”

As with this week’s loan of Ryan Giles, Town are only in the market for the players that fit into the boss’s 3-5-2 system.

“There’s no point saying we’re going to play a certain way and then sign players that don’t fit into it,” he added.

“You have to get the players that fit into what you want to play.

“We’re a little bit restricted because we can’t just hand pick players we want so we are governed slightly.

“But I’ve got a good idea and I think we’ll be pretty success trying to get players to play that way.”