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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
James Piercy

Exclusive: Bristol Rovers closing in on Premier League winger as first addition on deadline day

Bristol Rovers are set to sign Fulham winger Sylvester Jasper on a season-long loan, Bristol Live understands, and kick off what is shaping up to be a busy deadline day for Joey Barton’s side.

The Gas are closing in on the former England youth forward in what could be their first capture of the day as Barton is targeting multiple signings before the 11pm deadline.

The 20-year-old spent last season on loan at Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership and Colchester United in League Two and is a classic wideman, capable of taking defenders on 1v1 and driving into the penalty area.

Barton’s squad has lacked width following the summer departure of Sam Nicholson, while Luke Thomas and Elliot Anderson returned to their parent clubs and although the Gas would have liked to have re-signed the duo, they have since played their way into first-team thinking.

Jasper scored three goals over 40 appearances for the Us and Hibs last season, including the 1-1 draw against the Gas in Essex in October.

He is not part of Marco Silva’s plans in the Premier League this season having only featured for the Under-21s so far this term. Intriguingly he is out of contract at the end of the season which opens up the prospect for the move to become a permanent one should he impress.

A product of the Fulham academy since the age of 11, having started with QPR, the Londoner has been capped at Under-21 level by Bulgaria, qualifying for the country through his Bulgarian mother.

He was involved for Fulham during pre-season, and accompanied them on their pre-season trip to Portugal noting at the time that he wanted to make his first-team breakthrough this term.

“I want to play for Fulham and that's been my target for a number of years now. Hopefully this season I can take another step towards that,” Jasper said at the start of August. “I want to improve on every single aspect of my game, which includes playing more matches and recording more goals and assists.”

Should Rovers be successful in bringing Jasper to north Bristol it would address one significant position of need for Barton with the Rovers manager also requiring centre-backs, due to the injury to James Connolly, potentially a left-back and an additional striker also on the agenda.

Although, not ideal, Rovers have an excellent track record so far with late additions as Antony Evans arrived the day before the summer window closed last year, while Anderson joined the Gas in the final hours on the January deadline. Both proving incredibly influential players in the 2021/22 promotion season.

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