Arsenal goalkeeper Dejan Iliev has returned to the club this week after the conclusion of his short-term loan to Shrewsbury Town.

Shrewsbury Town announced in a post on their club website on Thursday that Dejan Iliev is returning to Arsenal after his short-term loan with the club. The 25-year-old made three appearances and kept one clean sheet for the League One side.

Initially, things started well, as Iliev kept that one clean sheet on his debut. However, a slightly shaky follow-up game in a 1-0 defeat to Bristol Rovers saw him out of the side for the following month.

Iliev briefly returned to the starting lineup in a 2-2 draw with MK Dons, but then Matija Sarkic returned from his knee injury and has started every single game in League One and in the FA Cup since then.

Iliev had injury problems of his own, missing a few games in late October for that reason, but he was largely fit and available for the last couple of months – just not selected.

The goalkeeper could remain at Arsenal for the next few months, given he’s homegrown and could act as the club’s third-choice goalkeeper if they wanted to loan Runarsson and don’t feel the youth options are ready.

Even if Arsenal fail to loan Runarsson, they’d then have the option of leaving him out of the Europa League squad and including Iliev instead, to make room for Martin Odegaard.

Alternatively, there are a couple of days to find him a better loan move for the remainder of the season.