“Do whatever we need to” – Stoke City fan pundit discusses future of defender ahead of January transfer window | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Stoke City defender Connor Taylor has struggled for game time since Alex Neil’s appointment but the youngster will hope to have a big future at the club in the years to come.

The 21-year-old enjoyed a productive loan spell with Bristol Rovers last season and he has made ten appearances for the Potters in the current campaign, although the last of those came in September.

Therefore, there has been talk that Taylor could benefit from another temporary move and Stoke fan pundit Ben told FLW that Neil faces a tough call on what to do with the centre-back.

“I feel a little bit sorry for Connor Taylor. He started the season well under Michael O’Neill, despite results not going our way but they haven’t been going our way recently and he’s still not in the team.

“He’s unlucky that Morgan Fox has found form at left centre-back and that’s enabled Ben Wilmot to move over to take Taylor’s place. I do wonder at times whether Taylor should’ve been trusted with the central centre-back role ahead of Aden Flint and Phil Jagielka. But now Harry Souttar’s likely to come back into the team and push Taylor further down the pecking order.

“A short-term loan with the option of a recall if that’s possible, would not be a bad idea. But with the amount of injuries we’ve had, with the dips in form, he’s more than capable to push back into this team and I would like to see him kept around.

“It depends on how happy the player is because ultimately I want him to stay at this club for a long time yet, so we do whatever we need to, to keep him happy.”

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John Carew joined Stoke on loan from West Ham.

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The verdict

It will have been frustrating few months for Taylor because he had a taste of Championship football this season and he did reasonably well.

Having shone for Bristol Rovers in the previous campaign, he will be desperate to get back out on the pitch and you would imagine he is pushing for a loan in the New Year.

But, Neil needs to assess the situation properly and it could also depend on what business the side get done. So, this is one to monitor but for Taylor’s development you would think he needs more minutes.