Taylor blows chance to prove point to Joe Bryan-linked Aston Villa

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Neil Taylor endured a fairly miserable evening as Aston Villa suffered defeat in their latest Championship clash.

With Aston Villa right in the mix to secure promotion out of the Championship this season, a number of their players will be dreaming about the chance to play at the highest level next season – especially those who have previously played in the Premier League.

Neil Taylor is one such player who has top flight experience and may be hoping that he can contribute to the Villans’ promotion push having struggled for game-time since the turn of the year.

The Welshman dropped out of the team in mid-January and only returned to the side following the injury that Alan Hutton suffered in the dramatic win over Sheffield Wednesday.

And not only would Taylor have known that it was vital that he made the most of this latest chance as he looks to reestablish himself at the top of Steve Bruce’s pecking order at left-back, but reports linking the Villans with another Championship defender at the weekend also piled the pressure on.

The Sun reported that Villa are interested in signing Bristol City left-back Joe Bryan if they are promoted, so Taylor is now up against it to prove that he is not only better than Bruce’s current options, but that the boss also does not need to spend £7 million on signing the Robins ace – which is the fee that the Daily Mirror suggested that he was rated at back in January.

Unfortunately however, it appears that Taylor may have dealt his chances of proving a point to Bruce a blow with his latest appearance, which came in the 3-1 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers.

Like several of his teammates, Taylor was poor in the surprise loss. And what made the evening worse for the defender was that he had to be taken off shortly after the break due to injury, so may well have seen several chances to prove himself slip through his grasp depending on how serious the problem is.

With Taylor struggling to establish himself as a first-choice for Villa in recent times, he arguably needed a flawless run until the end of the campaign to make Villa think twice about pursuing the highly-impressive Bryan. Unfortunately for Taylor, it appears that he may have now left himself too much to do.