Steve Cotterill 'will not hold breath' on further Shrewsbury Town transfers before Tuesday deadline
Steve Cotterill feels it is unlikely Shrewsbury Town will make any more signings before Tuesday's deadline – but the boss insists he won't stop trying.
The Town chief had wanted two more players to complete his summer business but revealed he missed out on two transfer targets this week that instead opted for the Scottish Premiership and Championship.
Cotterill says he is happy with his lot but would've preferred another couple of options in his squad. The experienced boss had made public his will to hold out until quality additions were made available by their clubs, but missed out at the 11th hour. He said it is becoming 'increasingly difficult' to bring players in and will not do so if they are not sufficient quality.
The transfer window shuts at 11pm on Tuesday evening, after Town take on Crewe in the Papa John's Pizza Trophy at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Cotterill said: "At this moment in time we're not close to anything.
"There's a couple of things we've been on and we've waited on, but what's happened to us before has happened again in terms of the players have decided they're going to go to a higher level, which is something we can't do anything about.
"We've just got to keep looking, all the way up until that deadline.
"We've got a good little tight-knit squad here, if we can add to it we will, for definite, that's what we want to do – but it is becoming increasingly difficult and the players out there are so few and far between.
"What I don't want to do is take somebody in for the sake of it, and they're no better than what we've got, I don't want to do that."
Cotterill's men recorded a priceless first League One win of the season against Gillingham today as Tom Bloxham and Sam Cosgrove both struck second-half goals – their first for the club – in a comeback victory.
The Shrews boss, who has made nine summer signings so far, added: "I'm happy with what I'm got in terms of the players – as regards the numbers I would ideally like to have two more.
"One has gone off to the Scottish Prem, one has gone to the Championship, if we'd have got those two I was done – really, really happy.
"But no qualms with the lads, both that have gone on, I wish them all the best, they phoned me yesterday and the day before to tell me of their decision.
"If I'm brutally honest I get it, I get why they've gone, sometimes there's finances involved, there's not a lot I can do about that at this moment.
"It'd be fantastic if we could get somebody else in but I'm not holding my breath. We've been barking up a few trees now for a little while and it's almost come to a stop.
"Maybe if there's a pleasant surprise for us somewhere down the line I'll be delighted with that. It's not going to stop us looking tonight, tomorrow and Monday and Tuesday up until the game."
