Matt Taylor: Shrewsbury's newest recruit has X-Factor

The former Southampton academy product has been at Waterford since January 2022, but Town have now confirmed he becomes their first signing of the January transfer window on two-and-a-half-year deal.

Idowu has already trained with his new Salop team-mates – including Tunmise Sobowale who played with him at Waterford.

The 21-year-old, who is an attacking midfielder, cannot play until the transfer window opens, and Taylor says they can use that time to educate him on what they expect from him.

He said: “What he is, is a player at the top end of the pitch who wants to impact the game.

“He adds another dynamic to our team, and for him, he will be desperate to hit the ground running, and for us, we have got to use this period now to educate him on exactly what we want from our players at the top end of the pitch.

“What he will do is he will risk the ball, he will accept the ball in tight spaces, and he can manipulate it really well. He will stretch defences. I think he is the type of player that we need in the group. I think he is the type of player that will get supporters off their seats.

“What he has is an attitude of no fear which is great. It will be good when January comes and he gets the opportunity to showcase himself to everybody, first and foremost here at Shrewsbury and then the wider audience.

“I see him playing as an attacking midfielder. He can play as a 10, but it is difficult you do not want to pigeonhole players into positions.

“What we have now is we have time, I counted it today with him we have upwards of 14 or 15 training sessions for him to understand what it is we expect from our attacking players.”

Idowu is the third player Town have signed from the League of Ireland this season and Taylor has revealed there was competition for his signature.

He continued: “One of the big things is you always know when you are looking at the potential of prospective players or how good they could be is when you see the amount of competition for his signature.

“Micky (Moore) and Tom (Ware) have worked tirelessly hard to get Roland over the line.”

On signing for Shrewsbury, Idowu said: “I’m buzzing. It’s something I’ve been waiting a while for, to jump to this level, so I’m delighted to be here.

“There was interest for a while but then in recent weeks it’s got more serious and I’m delighted that I’m here now.

“From now until the end of the season I want to help the team as much as I can."