What does the future hold for Connor Taylor at Wycombe Wanderers?

Life in the light-dark blue shirt of Wycombe Wanderers for Connor Taylor could have been off to a much better start, to say the least.

Signing from recently relegated side Bristol Rovers during the summer for an undisclosed fee after he was voted as the club’s Player of the Year, it could be fair to say the gamble that Wanderers made signing the player has not paid off.

While he did win the PotY award, the Bristol side was one of the worst it had ever been, resulting in their 22nd-placed finish and their inevitable relegation from the third tier of English football.

So, for Wycombe to roll the dice on a player making the step up was a massive risk, especially after the club had brought in the likes of Caleb Taylor and Sonny Bradley on loan from Championship clubs only last season.

With the effect the aforementioned players had on Wycombe’s 2024/25 campaign, it would have only made sense for them to either try and tie them down with permanent deals. Bradley being more realistic as he went on to join fellow League One side Lincoln City while Caleb Taylor is with Championship side, Milwall.

Or they could have tried harder to keep Joe Low, another player who was intrinsic in making up Wycombe’s solid defensive displays. Another option Wycombe could have had was to yet again bring in someone on loan from the Championship who might have had League One experience and wasn’t getting enough gametime in the second tier. Instead, Wanderers chose to poach a player who had just been relegated to League Two.

Since then, Taylor’s defensive displays have been a massively unwanted change to what Chairboys fans were watching last season. Not only does he look extremely uncomfortable every single time he receives the ball, but he often makes backward or sideways passes as soon as possible because of the pressure, putting even more strain on those who are making up the backline with him, or the goalkeeper.

Taylor actually has an excellent pass completion rate, which stands at 90.3%. However, as mentioned, many of these a low-risk passes either sideways or backwards, meaning his ball progression is rather poor.

He has also been caught out of position on a few occasions, leaving gaps at the back which teams have exploited. It seems that all in all, the former Bristol Rovers captain isn’t a great fit for Michael Duff’s system.

A recent example being the poor defensive work against Plymouth Argyle or Exeter City, both games in which Taylor started with the defensive line being broken far too easily in both of these matches, and too many soft goals being given away.

In Wycombe’s last league win against Lincoln in the closing stages of November, the backline was made up of Jack Grimmer, Dan Casey, Anders Hagelskjaer and Daniel Harvie. It can’t be a coincidence that in four out of the last five that Wycombe have failed to win, Taylor has started and Wanderers have conceded a total of eight goals.

However, the blame can’t be placed fully on Taylor, with a defence that has looked rather shaky all season, and a real lack of firepower up front, which has seen the Chairboys struggle across the board as of late.

With the January transfer window quickly approaching, the time is now for Wanderers to make a decision on the 24-year-old centre-back. Do they cut their losses and sell, probably not even getting half of what they paid for the player, or what they did with Alex Hartridge and send him out on loan for the rest of the season so he can try and regain at least some confidence.

The final and most likely option is to keep the player and hope he comes good and eventually fits Duff’s style of play, something that he’s clearly struggling with at the moment, particularly when Wycombe play out from the back.