Shrewsbury close to second signing

Assistant boss Aaron Wilbraham yesterday revealed Cotterill was busy working on a deal but could not confirm if any new face would arrive on time for tomorrow’s trip to Crewe.

Town return to League One action after the excitement of Anfield with a local clash against the Railwaymen, where they will be backed by a sold-out initial allocation of more than 1,000 at Gresty Road.

Cotterill has so far signed Bristol City striker Saikou Janneh on loan – who made his debut as a late substitute at Liverpool – at the beginning of the month but it is understood another loan deal is set to follow at Montgomery Waters Meadow.

Wilbraham said: “The gaffer is working on something at the moment, that will be revealed when it happens, there’s no point talking about anything before because it just becomes speculation.

“Everybody up and down the country would’ve seen us go there (to Liverpool) and have a bit of a cup run. There’s the league form as well and hopefully that can work in our favour with these things.”

While a new addition will make it two new loanees this month, the futures of existing loan players Sam Cosgrove, of Birmingham City, and Leicester City’s Khanya Leshabela remains unclear.

Both still remain at Shrewsbury ahead of tomorrow’s clash on the road but neither have enjoyed a productive spell on the pitch in Shropshire.

Cotterill has previously said their loans will be reviewed this month with clauses to terminate the deals midway through the season. Reports have claimed Blues striker Cosgrove is wanted in Scotland and in League Two, while South African midfielder Leshabela has not featured for a number of weeks, though did contract Covid-19 over the Christmas period.

Wilbraham, meanwhile, confirmed Cotterill will be addressing existing players whose contracts are set to expire at the end of the season.

Key players such as Josh Vela, Nathanael Ogbeta, captain Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Elliott Bennett and David Davis all have deals end, as do Shaun Whalley and Aaron Pierre, though it is unclear which have extensions to trigger in their contracts.

Vela last week spoke on how, with his contract up, he had the opportunity to impress onlookers at Anfield.

“Again, the manager wouldn’t let anything like that slip under his radar,” Town’s assistant said when asked whether talks would take place.

“He is on top of all of those type of situations, because that’s the type of manager he is.”