Shrewsbury Town closing in on new Aston Villa youngster
Shrewsbury Town are closing in on the signing of Josh Feeney on a season-long loan from Aston Villa, the Shropshire Star understands.
Salop are looking to make additions before their EFL curtain raiser against Stevenage this weekend, and the Villa centre-back is poised to become Town head coach Paul Hurst’s fourth loan addition of the summer.
The 19-year-old came through the youth ranks with Fleetwood Town before joining Villa in the summer of 2021 – he then signed his first contract a year later in 2022.
Feeney, who is set to sign for Shrews for the forthcoming season, will not be the only player to make a temporary switch from Villa Park as he joins team-mate Tommi O’Reilly. He has already made an impression in his brief cameos during the club’s pre-season fixtures.
Feeney’s only taste of competitive senior action came during a spell with Real Union, where he made eight appearances earlier this year – O’Reilly was also there during that time.
The deal to sign the former England youth international has been a protracted one after he went on tour with Villa to America.
He was an unused substitute in their 1-0 defeat to Club America in Chicago at the weekend.
But he has had some minutes in pre-season as he played the first half of Villa’s pre-season clash against Walsall a few weeks back, a game they went on to win 3-0.
He lined up alongside Matty Cash and Pau Torres, who are both experienced Premier League defenders.
The youngster will be one of four front-line options Hurst has to choose from at the heart of his back four for the coming campaign.
Morgan Feeney was already at the club, but Aaron Pierre signed fresh terms at the Croud Meadow this summer after impressing Hurst in his short stint when the head coach first arrived.
Toto Nsiala is also set to feature having signed for Shrews for the second time earlier this summer. It is the fourth time he has been signed by Hurst and the 32-year-old was a part of the team who had a tilt at play-offs back in 2018.
Meanwhile, Town have confirmed the dates for their EFL Trophy games.
They will take on Fulham under-21s on Tuesday, August 20 at a kick-off time of 7.30.
And then two months later, they will play Birmingham City, a side they played in pre-season, again at the Croud Meadow on October 8 in a 7.30 kick-off.
Their final group game is at Bescot Stadium against Walsall on
November 12.
