Peterborough United are interested in signing centre-back Connor Taylor, who has made 19 senior appearances for Stoke City, from Bristol Rovers, as per Football League World.
Who Is Connor Taylor?
Taylor, a former England Schoolboys international, came through the youth ranks at Stoke City.
After short spells out on loan at Ashton United and Chester FC, he made his debut for the Potters towards the end of the 2020/21 campaign.
The following campaign was Taylor’s breakout season in English Football. He joined Bristol Rovers on loan and was one of the best young players in League Two. The Stoke-on-Trent-born man played 42 league games for the Gas, scoring three times as his side won promotion. He won the EFL’s Young Player of the Month award for October and he was nominated for the League Two Young Player of the Season award.
The centre-back was so impressive that Stoke kept him in their first-team squad for the 2022/23 season. But, Taylor could not nail down a regular place in the starting eleven as he made just 14 league appearances and played a mere 977 minutes of league football.
After this disappointing season, he returned to Bristol Rovers in August 2023 for an undisclosed fee, picking up where he left off two seasons earlier.
Taylor has been an ever-present in the Gas’ defence despite his youth, making 89 appearances across the last two seasons.
Bristol Rovers’ number 17 has been particularly excellent this season, winning more duels, aerial duels and tackles than 93% of League One defenders and making more blocks, interceptions and recoveries than 87% of his counterparts.
Why Has This Move Come About?
Despite Taylor’s brilliant individual efforts, he could not save his team from relegation as they lost nine of their final ten league games, seeing a six-point buffer to the relegation zone vanish as they ended up four points from safety.
Peterborough go into every League One season expecting to be in the race for the playoff positions, but this was not the case this season. After losing the likes of Ronnie Edwards, Ephron Mason-Clark, Josh Knight and Harrison Burrows in the summer, the Posh stumbled to an 18th-placed finish as they were just five points away from relegation.
Their attacking numbers are impressive. They finished as the seventh-highest scorers in the third tier and created the fifth-highest xG.
But, their defensive statistics make for horrible reading and it is certainly the area in which they must improve in the summer. The Posh conceded the second-most goals of any team in the third tier, an average of 1.8 goals per game, they kept just six clean sheets all season and they conceded the third-highest xG-Against of any team in League One.
Writer’s View
Signing a 23-year-old defender who has excelled in a recently relegated side certainly fits the transfer policy at Peterborough. However, there are questions over whether Darren Ferguson needs another young defender in his squad at the moment.
The oldest player that the Posh have under contract for next season is Sam Hughes, who is just 28 years old. Peterborough’s centre-back options comprise Hughes, Oscar Wallin and Emmanuel Fernandez, who are both 23 years old, and George Nevett, who is just 19.
There is no doubt that Taylor is too good to be playing in the fourth tier next season. But, a move to an extremely young, and therefore inconsistent, Peterborough United team may not be what is best for either the player or the club at the moment, despite the fact that Taylor has played a lot of games for a 23-year-old.
