Nick Powell and Ryan Shotton Joining Late on Loan

For me the signings of Nick Powell and Ryan Shotton are two fantastic deals. Both add something very different to the team and add real quality to the team. Two players to look forward to watching here at the DW Stadium.

Nick Powell came in first (joining on a season long loan), and the loan signing of the midfielder looked to really kick started the moving and shaking of players around in the North West. With Powell coming in Wigan allowed James McCarthy to head to Everton, while Marouane Fellaini heads off to Manchester United.

Powell for me comes to the club much like Tom Cleverly did a few years ago. A young player who is hungry to work hard and impress not only at the club he is on loan at, but his parent club as well. Hopefully he can live up to the expectations that surround him.

Our second deadline day deal was to bring in defender Ryan Shotton on loan till January. When you look on paper as to why we have brought the player in, you have to shake your head. We have plenty of defenders, thanks to Owen Coyle's excellent early recruitment tactics.

Then think a big deeper about our defending situation. Gary Caldwell and Ivan Ramis are both out injured and they are major ones to recover from. The two players are both only likely to be making tentative steps back into the team around October time. Between now and then we have a very busy September and early October.

What Coyle has done is bring in an experience defender on a short term deal as extra cover to allow for any slip up in recovery of our two main center backs. The deal does actually make a lot of sense.

Not as much sense as signing a striker, but reports suggest we are only a week away from signing a striker on loan.