Former City hero Bayliss has reached a crossroads in his career
COVENTRY City Academy graduate Tom Bayliss is at a crossroads in his career after being placed on the transfer list by Preston North End.
The 23-year-old midfielder who helped the Sky Blues gain promotion from League Two via the play-offs in a remarkable breakthrough season in 2017/18, scoring six goals including one in the memorable 4-1 semifinal second leg win at Notts County, was sold to the Lilywhites in the summer of 2019.
Joining the Championship club on a four year deal for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £2 million, the then England Under-19 international was limited to just 15 minutes from the bench in his one and only league appearance in his first season at Deepdale.
And it clearly hasn’t worked out for the lad who has made just two league starts and ten from the bench before being sent out on loan to League One
Wigan Athletic earlier this season. Although the Latics were last week promoted as champions, and will be competing against Coventry next season, Bayliss only made six starts and two substitute appearances during his spell at the DW Stadium and hasn’t featured since March 12. Preston this week announced the club’s retained list but say they will listen to offers for Bayliss who has another year left on his contract at the club. The Leicester-born midfielder enjoyed a meteoric rise with the Sky Blues where he was fast-tracked by Mark Robins from the Under18s and development squad into the first team, having come up through the Academy since a young boy.
He was the golden boy of the youth system at City at the time, following on from the success of James Maddison and dubbed the next big thing, and one of a long line to break through to senior football from the Academy.
Pitched in at the deep end against
Preston this week announced the club’s retained list but say they will listen to offers for Bayliss who has another year left on his contract.
Cheltenham Town for his senior debut in December 2017, the then 18-year-old scored in the second minute of the 2-1 Ricoh Arena victory.
And he never looked back, going on to firmly establish his place in the team with his dynamic box-to-box running and eye for goal proving valuable.
His highlight to the campaign came when he scored a fourth goal at Meadow Lane to stick the knife into
Notts County and confirm City’s place in the League Two play-off final against Exeter City – a game in which he played the full 90 minutes in the brilliant 3-1 win.
The following season in League One he continued to be a regular, although his form appeared to plateau before being sold to North End ahead of the 2019/20 campaign, leaving City having made over 70 appearances and scoring nine goals.