Former Manchester United defender Donald Love signs for Shrewsbury Town

The defender – who can also play wing-back – moves to Montgomery Waters Meadow after ending his contract with League One rivals Sunderland early by mutual consent.

And he is hoping to establish himself in Sam Ricketts’ team after penning a two-year deal with Town.

“I’ve known of the interest for a few weeks now and it’s taken a while to get sorted,” Love told Shrewsbury’s official website. “You hear about interest and then things moved quite quickly and I can’t wait to get started.”

The 24-year-old made just four appearances for Sunderland in League One last season – the most recent being September 1.

“It was a tough place to play and a hard place to be, but I can now come here and kick on,” said Love. “I had a good pre-season last year at Sunderland and thought I could have a good season but I picked up an injury early on. That’s football though so hopefully I can come to Shrewsbury and now kick on.”

And Love will be just as happy whether he operates at right-back or right wing-back.

“I can play anywhere but I do like to play right-back or right-wing back,” he added. “Wherever the manager asks me I’ll be happy to play.

“I can now knuckle down and hopefully show people what I can do, I like to work hard, like a tackle and like to be exciting.”