Ashley Willliams will make his first appearance in a Bristol City shirt on Tuesday when he lines up at Ashton Gate for the Under-23s as they take on Barnsley.
Welsh veteran Williams has signed a short-term contract until January with the option of extending it until the end of the season following his release from Everton in the summer.
The vastly experienced centre-back, who turned 35 last Friday, will provide much needed cover in defence following injuries to Bailey Wright and Tomas Kalas which has left Lee Johnson with just three senior centre-backs.
However, Williams hasn't had a pre-season with his last 90 minutes being for Wales against Hungary on June 11 and needs to raise his match fitness before he can be considered in contention for the first-team.
With City's next Championship match against Middlesbrough on Saturday, if he excels for the Under-23s he could ensure Johnson maintains the three-man defence that has served them well this season.
But if Williams is not quite able to prove his fitness then the City head coach will be forced into a tactical rethink with the likely option being a return to a back four with Taylor and Nathan Baker at centre-back.
Johnson claimed in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 win at Hull, in which Williams did not travel with the team, that the former Swansea captain has lost around 10kg in weight since his loan spell at Stoke and has adopted a vegan diet.
"I still think he's got a couple of years in him. Honestly," Johnson said. "We've done all the physical testing and he's very, very powerful and he's very lean.
"He's got the best body fat percentage - he's been a vegan for six months, which is interesting. He's dropped about 10kg in weight from where he was last year at Stoke. So that's another good sign.
"Of course the feet slow up a little bit as time goes on, but you hope that the experience and new way of coaching gives him that lease of life."
