ROVERS SIGN TAYLOR
IN January 2019, a tall, gangly centre-back who had recently made his first-team debut for Stoke arrived at Fleetwood Town under Joey Barton for the next stage of his development.
Bar a sporadic few appearances at Dundee United before signing for Stoke, Harry Souttar’s only previous first-team experience was 13 games on loan at Ross County in the Scottish Premiership: he was very much a raw talent.
Within six months he had become a mainstay of the Fleetwood defence and was so important to Barton’s game-plan, they devised attacking set-piece routines around his presence in the penalty area.
Now 22, Souttar is regarded as among the best centre-backs in the Championship, with a high ceiling far from being hit, amid Premier League interest from Burnley.
He’s also now an international with Australia, capped five times and scorer of a remarkable six goals - including one this week against Jordan in World Cup qualification.
It’s a stretch to think the trick can be repeated so effectively at Bristol Rovers, but Barton’s loan signing of Connor Taylor from Stoke is eerily reminiscent of Souttar, with the two players sharing similar attributes and playing style.
Without the former, Stoke may never have agreed to the move for one of their brightest prospects but for all parties concerned it’s a loan move that can be enormously benefical in the short, medium and long term.
“I’m delighted to be at the club, especially with Joey Barton - he was a big attraction to the club, he has a lot of ambition and plan to be successful,” said Taylor.
“You see what he’s done with Harry Souttar at Stoke, he brought him on massively with Clint Hill and hopefully I can do something similar here.
“Speaking to Joey, you can already see the plan with the training ground - he’s got massive ambition and the main aim is to be successful and go straight back up.
“I like to head the ball out of the box, I like to pass the ball and step into midfield but most of all I like to defend and keep clean sheets, which is the first point of call. Really looking forward to a new challenge and I can’t wait to get started.”
BRISTOL Rovers manager Joey Barton is excited by the potential of new loan signing after the Stoke City defender completed his move to the Gas.
Taylor arrives in north Bristol for the duration of the 2021-22 League Two campaign in what will be his first season in senior professional football.
The rangy 19-year-old has previously spent spells in the National League North with Chester and the Northern Premier League at Ashton United, while he made his one and only appearance for Stoke in April against Coventry City.
“We are really pleased to get
Connor in with us this forthcoming season at Rovers,” said Barton.
“He’s a very good young player, one we have tracked for a while now, and I know that he is excited to make the natural next step into senior football.
“It’s our aim to create an environment where Connor can join the rest of the lads in getting better every day so that together we can achieve our objective of winning promotion for this season.”
Taylor had his medical in Bristol on Wednesday, where he met with the coaching staff, and the Bristol Post understands Clint Hill’s role was integral to the deal.
Barton’s assistant has a strong reputation at Stoke due to his nur the
turing of Harry Souttar for 18 months at Fleetwood and the hope is that Taylor will follow a similar path to the Australian international who is now established as one of Championship’s premier centre-backs.
Taylor also becomes a Rovers player less than 48 hours after the exit of former club captain Max Ehmer, who had his contract terminated on Tuesday facilitating a return to Gillingham.
The teenager joins a complement of five specialist centre-back at the Gas alongside Alfie Kilgour, Jack Baldwin, Cian Harries and fel position. low new signing Mark Hughes, with Pablo Martinez, Nick Anderton and
George Williams also capable of playing in the Throughout his time at Rovers, Barton has usually favoured a back three but with doubts over the futures of Harries and Williams, in particular, the 39-year-old could well bring in a further centre-back in this transfer window.
Taylor’s signing also begins to break the misconception that the Rovers manager would spend the summer predominantly signing experienced veterans.