Shrewsbury Town boss Steve Cotterill delighted to land Sunderland's Tom Flanagan early

Shrews chief Cotterill explained his delight in securing the versatile 30-year-old Northern Ireland international as a free agent with six months left on his deal at the Stadium of Light.

Town had, according to Cotterill, targeted a right-footed defender for some time. Flanagan, a regular at Sunderland this term, could make his Salop debut at home to Fleetwood tomorrow.

“Tom is very, very experienced, he’s had a fantastic season to date at Sunderland,” Cotterill said. “He’s had a good career to date, he’s very, very flexible.

“We’ve needed a right-sided defender for a long time, he can play anywhere along the back three, he can play anywhere in a back four from right back across to left-back.

“You don’t get many of those players become available on a free transfer.

“He fits into our wage structure, it was actually a no-brainer. It’s something we’ve been on for a while and I think maybe we’d have done in the summer.

“But getting him out on a free when we did was a bonus. He’s a great lad and has already fitted in well. We’ve got to get him to know what we do in certain areas.”

Flanagan and teenage left wing-back Matty Bondswell, 19, on loan from Newcastle, concluded Cotterill’s deadline day additions.

The manager added on the former: “I don’t know if too many clubs did know about it (his availability). I just happened to find out about it and dived on it quickly.

“I suppose it’s about who you know, what you know, what you hear and what you don’t. Sometimes someone’s going to sign another player I want and they might get to know it before me.”

“Nine times out of 10 if we haven’t had a right-footer, if something happens to Matthew Pennington, we go to a back four. There’s nothing wrong with that, it depends on the game, but we’ve needed a right-sided defender.”

Bondswell arrives as replacement for Nathanael Ogbeta, who departed late for Championship Swansea City for a deal reported to be worth £300,000 plus add-ons.

Cotterill said: “Matty’s completely the other end of the spectrum. He’s not really started his career too much yet, a little bit like Nathanael when he first came here.

“We’ve got to try to look at when we can put him in the team and what he’s going to offer us.

Asked on developing youngsters, he added: “Only when I think they’re ready to be thrown in.

“What you’ve got to be careful of when you’ve got kids is don’t ruin them.

“I said to him after his first section we’ve got some work to do to him. We deliberately played a bigger size pitch to see what he knew and how much he understood.”

“Nathanael’s gone, we’ve got an incredible fee considering he was out of contract at the end of the season, but a lot of work went into Nathanael. I see so many similarities with Matty.”