Shrewsbury boss John Askey has revealed that Jon Nolan and Toto Nsiala won’t be training with the League One side while their futures are decided, Town having made a rejected bid for the duo earlier in the week which led to them handing in transfer requests. Town manager Paul Hurst, who was in charge at Shrewsbury until joining the Blues, wouldn’t confirm Town’s interest in the pair at his press conference but said he believed they are players capable of stepping up to the Championship.
"Obviously it’s disappointing from our point of view,” Askey told the Shrews official site.
"When you get to this stage of the pre-season it’s not news you want to hear.""
"I’m afraid that’s football these days so we have just to get on and the most important thing for me is looking after Shrewsbury Town and getting players who want to play for the football club.""
"When you have players who have done well then these sort of things tend to happen. It’s the timing more than anything that you can do without.”"
Questioned on Town's interest in Nsiala and Nolan, both 26, Hurst wouldn’t confirm the approach: "I don’t really want to comment on other clubs' players, we’ve been linked with various ones, some are right, some are wrong.
"But they are two players that I would say it’s no secret, I spoke well of them last season and they are good players.”
Town are understood to have offered £1.4 million with £650,000 of that fee relating to central defender Nsiala, who has a year left on his contract, with Shrewsbury reported to want £1 million for the DR Congo international. Midfielder Nolan, who is reportedly also interesting Sheffield United, has another two years left on his terms with the Shropshire club.
Hurst believes the pair would be good enough to step up a division - "Yes, I think they would be” - and says the situation regarding new signings could be changed very quickly.
"Honestly, I’m not sure [whether any new additions are close], one phone call could change everything and we could have anything up to four new players in for Saturday, if everything just suddenly went. I don’t believe it will.
"Whether or not we can even get one in for Saturday and then I’ve got a decision to make whether I would include them anyway because it’s so late in the day in terms of preparation for the game.
"It’s like anything, I could sit here and say nothing’s close, but it might be.
"But it’s not in my hands and that’s when it gets frustrating and the word patience that we’ve already used numerous times since I joined the club is something that I’m having to show.”