Bristol City defender Taylor Moore made such an impression during his loan spell at Southend United last season that manager Kevin Bond has said he is keen to bring him back to Roots Hall.
Moore, 22, made 40 appearances for the Shrimpers last season and scored the first senior goal of his career in a 2-0 win against Gillingham on New Year’s Day. Southend fans immediately took to the Robins defender.
Speaking to the Southend Echo about a potential return for Moore, Bond said: “Taylor would potentially be an option and he did well for us but his club at this moment in time appear to be keen on him to go back there.
“I think what happens with clubs who are above us is that they like to have all their players back with them for pre-season.
“They want the managers to have a look at them and they want to see if they’ve developed while out on loan, if they have improved and see if they can help them.
“If they think they can work without them then towards the end of the window they will let them go on loan.
“That’s fine but in an ideal world you would like your squad sorted by the first day of pre-season but that’s always difficult, especially with loan players.”
"If you’re loaning players from higher clubs then quite often you will wait until the last two weeks of the window but it’s difficult because then someone else might get them,” said Bond.
“You can’t just wait and see because if you do then it might not happen and you’re left high and dry so you do have to look elsewhere.”
More has made just seven first team appearances for Bristol City back in 2016/17 and was then sent out on loan to Bury and Cheltenham Town before spending the last campaign in League One with Southend.
Moore played for England age group teams from U16s through to U20s, with the centre back, who can also play as a full back, skippering the U19s.
He signed for City on a three year deal from French club Lens for a fee in the region of £1.5m. Last summer Moore signed a contract extension, keeping him at Ashton Gate until June 2020.
