Steve Cotterill: Shrewsbury unlikely to keep all loanees
Steve Cotterill says it would be brilliant if Shrewsbury Town were able to keep all their loan players – but the boss admitted that is unlikely to happen.
Town have loaned six players over the course of the 2022/23 season – most of which have made a huge impact during their time in Shropshire. Rob Street, Christian Saydee and Carl Winchester joined Salop back on deadline day in the summer after Taylor Moore had joined earlier in the window.
And in January, Shrews made another loan signing when Killian Phillips joined on loan from Crystal Palace.
Julien Dacosta also signed on a season-long deal, but he has since gone back to his parent club before going heading out somewhere else.
Salop’s loanees have played an important part in the team that is eighth in League One, but when asked about the possibility of keeping those players Cotterill said it is unlikely to happen.
He said: “I read an interesting piece from Dave Edwards the other day and he said we need to keep the squad together and add a few more to it, good luck with that.
“It would be brilliant if we were able to do that, but unfortunately that won’t happen.
“We get a pat on the back for having five loans who are doing really, really well, but what happens when they go back, you don’t have five all the time and that is why we are forever building here.
“I wanted to move away from (loans) since day one, I wouldn’t want to keep doing it all the time.”
