Shrewsbury Town to face a young 'Aston Villa XI' as part of loan terms

Shrewsbury Town will host an ‘Aston Villa XI’ as the final pre-season friendly before the 2026/27 gets under way.

Gavin Cowan’s men welcome the Birmingham visitors to Croud Meadow on Saturday, August 1 for a 3pm kick-off.

It is believed the visitors will be an under-21 outfit from Europa League winners Villa, with Unai Emery’s first team squad away on a pre-season tour of Indonesia while the friendly takes place. Villa take on an Indonesian All Stars side on August 1 in Jakarta.

Villa, though, do have World Cup participating stars poised to check back into club action sporadically throughout the remainder of the off-season.

The fixture is a result of negotiations in the loan deal that brought goalkeeper Sam Proctor to the Meadow.

The 19-year-old England youth international checked in on a season-long loan from Villa earlier this month.

Cowan’s side face West Bromwich Albion at Croud Meadow on Saturday before a trip to non-league Hereford FC on Tuesday night (July 28).

The Villa contest then takes Salop into the kick off in the EFL Cup away to Salford City on Saturday, August 8.

Tickets for the newly-announced friendly on on sale at 10am on Sunday morning.