Morgan Feeney has signed for one of Carlisle United's League One rivals.

The defender has turned down the chance to stay with the Blues and has instead joined Shrewsbury Town.

Feeney has agreed a two-year deal with the Shropshire outfit.

It comes a day after Blues boss Paul Simpson said he expected last season's captain to move on.

Simpson said Carlisle had made Feeney a very good offer to remain but at last night's fans' forum said he had not heard from the 24-year-old regarding a final decision on his future.

He has since been unveiled at Shrewsbury where head coach Matt Taylor said: "Morgan fits the ethos of the football club, he is exactly the type of player we want to be bringing in.

"He is hungry, he wants to get better and he wants to learn.

"He has an excellent pedigree from Everton and he is a player our fans will really take to because of his effort, desire and application.

"As we have spoken about previously, he is also a good person and will fit into our squad extremely well.

"Technically he is very gifted and we feel, as a football club, we can add value to his game whilst understanding he already has a very good amount of Football League experience - with Morgan captain of a team that was promoted from League Two last season.

"I’m really excited to get out onto the grass with him."

The news bring an end to Feeney's two-and-a-half year spell with the Blues, a period when he made 77 appearances.

He will face the Cumbrians early in the new season, with Shrewsbury taking on Carlisle at Brunton Park on September 2.

Feeney, who had previously been linked with a number of Scottish clubs including Hibernian and Hearts, said he was "delighted" with his move and added: "I know how big a club this is and the club’s ambitions certainly matched mine. 

"It’s a really exciting challenge for me – that is what drew me to the club and I’m really excited to get going."

Feeney said Shrewsbury's interest was expressed early on.

On his time at Carlisle, he added: "We had a really good season last year. We had a really good group there and I really enjoyed my football. 

"We were progressing and looking to achieve something which we did. 

"I played a lot of minutes last season which I am really happy about, hopefully I will do something similar here [at Shrewsbury]."