AFC Telford United announce first summer signing

The attacking midfielder arrives in Shropshire after leaving Southern League Premier Central side Stamford AFC.

The 23-year-old was a product of Birmingham City’s academy as a youngster before representing Redditch upon release from Blues in 2020.

Based in Coventry, Hilton is a player with potential and manager Kevin Wilkin hopes the relationship will be mutually beneficial.

He said: “It’s no secret that continuity and consistency within the group is something we’re always looking to achieve, but it’s also good to have a few new faces join the dressing room to keep things fresh and make sure that the lads maintain their standards.

“Rhys will give us more competition in those attacking positions and I’m looking forward to getting to work with him. He ticks a lot of those boxes; he’s reasonably local and hopefully we can benefit each other; he can help us get to where we want to be and we can get his career on an upward curve.”

There was double delight for Bucks fans as left wing-back Nathan Fox extended his stay in Shropshire too.

The 31-year-old, who has title wins at Step Two and Step Three with King’s Lynn Town and Buxton respectively, adds a wealth of experience to Kevin Wilkin’s side.

Fox missed two significant chunks of the 2023/24 campaign through injury but was a real asset to the team when he was fit.

The Bucks missed out on an immediate return to National League North as they were beaten 1-0 by Leamington in the Southern Central Premier play-off final, but Wilkin has started to make additions to his squad ahead of the new campaign.

And he spoke glowingly about the return of Fox.

“I’m delighted to get Nathan on board again,” he said. “He got injured fairly early on last season and we missed his experience in a group with a number of young men in it, who’d have benefited from him being there.

Nathan looks after himself extremely well, he lives right away from the club and you see that in his performances, so he’s a great example, as well as giving us a great option on the left-hand side of the pitch.”

The Bucks have been busy securing signatures after Jordan Piggott committed his future last week.

Matty Stenson, Sam Whittall and Ellis Myles have also signed extensions at the club.