Everton loan Matthew Pennington to Shrewsbury Town

Everton defender Matthew Pennington has been loaned to Shrewsbury Town for the rest of the season.

Pennington, 26, will spend the remainder of the campaign with the League One club, ahead of his contract at Goodison Park expiring in June.

The centre-half has not made a first team appearance for Everton since April 2017, though he has made nine outings for the club’s under-23s side this term.

The move to Shrewsbury is the seventh loan in Pennington’s career so far, following similar spells at Tranmere Rovers, Coventry City, Walsall, Leeds United, Ipswich Town and Hull City.

Though, this is the first time he will drop to League One since 2015-16, having been part of both the Ipswich and Hull sides relegated from the Championship in the last two seasons.

Shrewsbury are 16th in League One, but have not lost a league match since manager Steve Cotterill’s appointment in late November, and have kept four clean sheets in their last five league games.

If, as expected, Pennington departs Everton next summer, he will leave with nine first team appearances to his name, including one goal - an equaliser in front of the Kop in a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool in April 2017.