Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury Town starlet Nathanael Ogbeta will not be downing tools this summer

Nathanael Ogbeta is focused on using the summer down time to come back stronger for Shrewsbury Town next season.

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The former Manchester City starlet, 20, is poised for his first full season in senior football after shining in the months following his January move from the newly-crowned Premier League champions.

Ogbeta, an England under-20 international, has earned himself a reputation of one of the division’s hottest prospect during his 25 appearances for Salop. He is almost certain to claim young player of the season in tomorrow’s virtual awards.

Yet the grounded left-sided defender is determined to use time off to improve. He said: “Obviously your body gets tired and you mentally need a rest.

“But when you wake up and don’t have to go to training, it’s like ‘what am I going to do with the rest of my day?’

“At the same time I just can’t wait to use the summer to prepare and get stronger for next season.

“There’s a lot of areas on my game I need to work on, a lot of things physically I need to improve on.

“I can’t wait for the off season – to come back even stronger and a better player, by the grace of God.”

Ogbeta only met his new Salop boss Steve Cotterill for the first time when the manager returned from illness for the Oxford game on May 1.

The wing-back strongly believes the manager’s absence was the chief reason Town, who finished 17th, ‘underachieved’.

He added: “I definitely think if the gaffer was here we’d have hit the play-offs, for sure, that’s what I think.

“I just think we’ve got a really good group. I feel we really underachieved, but it happens.

“If the gaffer’s not here it’s hard for him to nail down his philosophy, how he wants us to play, so I feel like we’ve missed out from that sense.

“But to get where we did – it could’ve gone another way, with more wins.

“It’s been good though, I’ve really enjoyed it, the ups and the downs, just to be part of a team and to get games, it’s why I came here, to move forward.”