Boss Micky Mellon admitted he thought his chance to sign new Shrewsbury loanee Mikael Mandron had gone.
Micky Mellon: Delighted with striker signing
The 20-year-old has joined on loan until the end of the season from Sunderland to aid their League Two promotion bid.
Mandron had a loan spell at Fleetwood last season, making 13 appearances and scoring once, and made his Sunderland debut in their 1-0 defeat to Liverpool earlier this month.
"Mikael is a lad I know very well and one I have seen play a lot, he is a player who is very quick," Mellon told the club's official site. "He recently played in the Premier League two weeks ago and I thought we'd lost the opportunity to bring him here but he asked to be kept up with the situation.
"We are really pleased that Sunderland have trusted us with a player they have very high hopes for and we look forward to working with Mikael."
The Shrews, second in the table, are also assessing striker Andy Mangan after he was forced off in their 3-2 win over Stevenage with a knee problem.
"Andy Mangan has seen the specialist and we are waiting on the results of that," Mellon said. "It looks like the knee problem we were nursing him through may keep him out for longer than we would like so we need to strengthen in that area.
"The players we have brought in recently have been to replace injured players rather than add to the existing players we already have available."