Former Bristol City manager Steve Cotterill is ready to deploy loanee Taylor Moore as a defensive midfielder this season after failing to "fulfil his potential as a Championship centre-back."
The 25-year-old is one of five senior players to leave the Robins this summer having been deemed surplus to requirements under Nigel Pearson. He spent last campaign on loan with Hearts but remained in and out of the first-team making just 12 starts in the Scottish Premiership.
A return to Pearson's plans this summer always seemed highly unlikely and he completed his temporary switch to League One Shrewsbury at the beginning of the month with Moore keen to find stability and consistency having had six different loan spells since joining BS3 in 2016.
He has made 60 appearances for City in total as a defender but just one under Pearson that came in the EFL Cup defeat to Forest Green Rovers last season. Although he is out of contract next summer, City do still hold a 12-month option on his agreement which they could exercise to try and ensure some kind of transfer fee.
With Moore hoping to take his game to the next level after a "very, very up and down few years at Bristol" it appears as though a fresh start also comes with a new position, with Cotterill keen for him to marshall the midfield. He was also handed the captain's armband in their friendly over Burnley.
After playing in two of Shrewsbury's three friendlies as a defensive midfielder, Cotterill revealed in the Shropshire Star: "Taylor has come here as a central midfield player.
"Taylor can do two positions for us, that’s vital with our budget, I think Taylor hasn’t quite fulfilled his potential in the Championship at centre-back.
“So somewhere along the line something has to change, I’ve spoken to him numerous times over the summer, we met and discussed this. He started as a central midfield player. It’s not foreign to him that we stuck a centre-back in midfield. I signed him as a central midfield player.
“You need somebody that can look after the space in front of that back three. They haven’t got to be the best footballer or silky, when he starts getting his angles right – and I think there’s a huge improvement in him now from the first game he played.
"And when you take the opposition on board the improvement is as big as we could’ve hoped. He’s a great lad, good footballer, he will settle down there.”
Cotterill, who spent just over three years as Robins manager winning the double in the 2014/15 campaign, still has a place in Bristol and is often spotted at the High Performance Centre watching the Under-23s in action where Moore would have caught his attention.
He already has experience in League One with impressive loans at Blackpool and Southend but now wants to forge out a new pathway to develop as a player.
Moore said: "For any young player, it's about finding your path and finding your journey. I've had a lot of loans, played a bit, came out (the side) a bit, it's just been a very up and down, stop and start. For me it's about finding that stability and consistency on the pitch and sometimes when you're not consistent off the pitch, it affects your performances on it.
“It was a big decision for me, to come here and I need that one year of consistency where I can develop my game and take myself to the next level.
“Bristol City has been a massive part of my life, I signed there when I was 19 years old and I'm 25 now. I know it's not always been the perfect journey but there are a lot of really good people at that club and I wish them nothing but the best.”
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