Blues manager Paul Hurst’s former club Shrewsbury have revealed they have turned down a joint-bid for central defender Toto Nsiala and midfielder Jon Nolan from an unnamed Championship club, who we understand are Town, with the duo subsequently handing in transfer requests.

A statement on the Shrewsbury official site reads: “Shrewsbury Town yesterday received an offer for both Jon Nolan and Toto Nsiala from a Championship club.

“Town do not need to sell Jon and Toto and have made it clear that we do not want to sell the players.

“The Championship club made an offer for both players via text yesterday but this was below Town’s valuation for the players.

“Today both Jon and Toto have handed in transfer requests to the club. We will of course keep our fans updated with any further developments should they occur.”

A Blues move for Nsiala and Nolan has been anticipated since Hurst took over at Portman Road with both key players in his Shrewsbury side which reached the League One play-offs last season.

The pair, who are both 26, were initially recruited by Hurst during his time as Grimsby manager from elsewhere in non-league, having previously been with the Everton academy.

Nolan is contracted to the Shrews until the summer of 2020 and Nsiala until 2019.

Following his spell at Everton, Huyton-born Nolan spent time with Stockport County, Lincoln City and Wrexham (loan) before joining Hurst's Grimsby in January 2016 before moving on to Chesterfield that summer. A year later Hurst took him to Shrewsbury.

Nsiala, a DR Congo international born in Kinshasa, spent time on loan at Macclesfield and Accrington while with Everton before a spell with TDCS Dong Thap in Vietnam.

NOLAN & NSIALA: Town have received bids for Jon Nolan and Toto Nsiala from one unnamed @SkyBetChamp club, offer was turned down but both players have handed in transfer requests #salop #BlueAmberArrmy

> https://t.co/Jy4hMBlwK0 pic.twitter.com/4ZPq7IYAJR– Shrewsbury Town Official (@shrewsweb) August 1, 2018

After returning to the UK, Nsiala, who was brought up in Liverpool from the age of 10 after a period living in Paris, joined Southport before playing for Hurst at Grimsby between 2014 and 2016. After half a season at Hartlepool he was reunited with his old boss at Shrewsbury in January 2017.

The Blues' move for Nsiala would suggest they have given up on their lengthy pursuit of Blackpool's Curtis Tilt with Town understood to have found the Tangerines, who were targeting £1 million for the former Wrexham man, intransigent and negotiations difficult going. The Blues were understood to have upped their offer to £700,000 within the last few days.

Tilt, 26, is believed to have handed in a transfer request in order to push his club into doing the deal but Town would now appear to have moved on.

Photo: Action Images

skusesrightpeg added 16:18 - Aug 1 Go On Hursty Lad, get this done for the weekend
13

MeenoITFC added 16:19 - Aug 1 Lovely bit of news to leave work with, if the players want the move there's not much else shrews can do about it bah get a good fee. I would be very pleased with these two additions
11

blueheartXT added 16:20 - Aug 1 Interesting I wonder if the offer will be increased
4

OwainG1992 added 16:21 - Aug 1 Look at us booking the team clubs fans will hate for turning players heads! Makes a nice change!!!
0

WoodfordTim added 16:28 - Aug 1 Great and I am sure that all involved at Town from ME down are working extremely hard to bring players in, but it is a pity, for whatever reason, that this is going on in the eleventh hour. Not good for any of our nerves including all at PR!
0

flimflam added 16:30 - Aug 1 Feel a bit sorry for Shrewsbury if I am honest but guess thats the football merry go round and they will probably hold out for top $.
10

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:30 - Aug 1 Does this mean the Tilt deal is off? I hope not. All will be revealed this week, but it certainly keeps us on our toes and guessing.
9

TractorBoyTommy added 16:32 - Aug 1 Fantastic.... signing more league 1 useless players. I am amazed how some fans are happy about all these nobody signings. If we have a team full of league 1 players not even the mighty bart can keep us up especially as waggy will be off as well. Need to add more experience.
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ShropshireBluenago09 added 16:34 - Aug 1 These 2 are Shrewsbury's best players and are both quality. NSIALA is a beast and Nolan is a tireless workhorse in centre mid.
21

ShropshireBluenago09 added 16:34 - Aug 1 These 2 are Shrewsbury's best players and are both quality. NSIALA is a beast and Nolan is a tireless workhorse in centre mid.
3

Gazza360 added 16:38 - Aug 1 TractorBoyTommy - You are either trolling everyone here or you have no clue about football.
11

baxter7 added 16:41 - Aug 1 I see the doom and gloom fan is at it again if town signed Messi the comment would be still the same
8

TimmyH added 16:41 - Aug 1 Nolan looked bang average in the play-off final but can't be judged on just one game but it was probably to date the biggest match he'd been involved in.
1

alexeasty99 added 16:43 - Aug 1 Very pleased with this. However, I follow Shrewsbury and I do feel Tilt would have been a better option than Nsiala. Nolan is class and I'm surprised he hasn't been picked up by another championship club.!
12

dirtydingusmagee added 16:43 - Aug 1 TractorBoyTommy , Which team do you really support ? assuming you do support one .
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Osbourne_One_Nil added 16:46 - Aug 1 Anyone else beginning to suspect TractorBoyTommy is McCarthy in disguise ? He has plenty of time to spend on message boards after all , what with having no job..
5

BlueThunder74 added 16:48 - Aug 1 Sounds as though Town are upping the ante. Get in there PH. This will put pressure on both Blackpool and Shrewsbury as neither will want players who are not fully committed to their cause after handing in transfer requests.
3

therein61 added 16:51 - Aug 1 I would trust the managers judgement he hasn't done badly so far, maybe this rumour could be a stick to prod Blackpool with and get them to stop messing us about.
4

BlueandTruesince82 added 16:53 - Aug 1 The wasteland that is Bowthorpe still has high unemployment rates I see.
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rabbit added 16:55 - Aug 1 Very seldom write a comment on here but I suspect that TBT is a child getting a few kicks out of posting nonsensical posts. Certainly the writing itself is very infantile and he seems thrilled with down marking.....so onward and upward everyone always interesting to read other peoples considered opinions.
4

cat added 17:01 - Aug 1 We've been down the road of throwing loads money at the team to gain promotion and that didn't work. We then tried to stifle teams and supporters to death with the Dino's brand of anti football, signing tired journeymen on stupid money and that didn't work either. This is a fresh approach, so why not embrace it and see what happens, you just never know!
13

rabbit added 17:01 - Aug 1 Haha brilliant within an ano second TBT read my post and marked accordingly.....enough said I think!!!
2

Juanforthemoney added 17:03 - Aug 1 Tractorboytommy just save your winging as its getting very tedious. Hope you enjoy the games at Carrow Road
2

ChestnutSe added 17:06 - Aug 1 Offer received by text? Sounds a bit unlikely I would have thought?
3

Dog added 17:08 - Aug 1 So basically, we have a made and it has been rejected. No blinking surprise there then. Still well short of players and the season starts in three days. I can fully understand that PH has gone back to players who knows his system, as there is no other option now. Just pay the money ME. There is still over £3million in the account from transfer, young kid and fifa dealings.
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