After catching the eye of City’s scouts in 2005/06 while at the Second Division club, Joe was snapped up and has continued to make excellent progress.
The 20-year-old made his Premier League debut last October and is also now a regular in Stuart Pearce’s England Under 21 squad, but the prospect of playing in his home town is an enticing one for him as he told mcfc.co.uk.
“It should be great,” says Joe. “They wanted the game slightly earlier. The plan was to open the stadium as the first game, but the way it’s worked they can have it to full capacity tonight, and it’s classed as the official opening.
“It’ll be a game that’s good for Shrewsbury Town and it should be a decent friendly for us as well.”
There have been a few changes for Town since Joe moved to City, most notably the move from their old home of Gay Meadow to the New Meadow Stadium this summer.
Joe continues: “I’ve been past it and it looks nice, never been inside it as yet though. It’ll be good go back to Shrewsbury.
“Since I’ve moved on the whole team’s changed more or less. There are only three or four players still there that I actually played with. In such a short space of time [since moving] I won’t actually be playing against many of my pals from back home – but I know of most of them.
“The manager, Gary Peters, has been there a couple of years and was there the season I started playing and you could tell straight away that the team wasn’t going to be the same by the time he’d finished.
“They’re looking a decent side and did well last year. They got to the Play Off final which is far further than they expected to go I think. And maybe it was good for them not to progress into the next league so they can have another season there, do well, and then really go for it after that.
“I think I’ll be getting half of the game with Kasper so that should be good and I’m excited to be playing tonight. Obviously, I want to play every game, make the most of every opportunity and take every chance I can.”
