The effects of the pandemic will likely have an impact on the scale of Manchester United’s transfers this summer. The Athletic report United will have to choose to prioritise one key position for a big deal, rather than multiple.
While frustrating for us, these types of problems are nothing compared to clubs in football’s non-league at present. And one Manchester United youngster is bearing the brunt of it.
Max Taylor is on loan at non-league Kidderminster Harriers, and as it stands, his season is over already.
The National League’s North and South divisions was shut down at the end of last week with a Null and Void scenario most likely. A vote was taken and went 24-19 in favour of ending the season, Sky Sports reported, with the financial impact of playing without fans making it untenable.
This impacts Taylor, with his Kidderminster side in National League North.
Taylor was pictured in training ahead of a fixture with Guiseley just over a week ago, which ended up being postponed. As did a subsequent game with Chester.
It has been a tough start to the year for Taylor, as Kidderminster lost three weeks of action in January due to a covid outbreak.
The young defender had begun his loan spell well, scoring his first ever professional goal in a win over Blyth Spartans in November.
Not giving up
As it stands Taylor’s season is over, but it’s not a certainty. Kidderminster were among the clubs who wanted the league to continue and they have co-signed a letter to the National League with a ‘Let Us Play’ campaign.
If the league were to approve it, a temporary league structure could be set up to run between now and the rest of the season.
So there’s a fair amount of uncertainty for Taylor, against a backdrop of an unpredictable future for himself.
The MEN reported last week how he is one of the players United are set to make a decision on over the upcoming months, with his contract set to expire this summer.
Taylor’s chances of making it at United are slim, and it is probable he will be released in June.
That’s why missing out on so much football in 2021, after also missing months of action in 2020, comes at a critically bad time for the 21-year-old.
Taylor was is in United’s squad which travelled to Astana along with Ethan Galbraith in the Europa League back in 2019. Galbraith has this week been called back into the squad, while Taylor faces a very uncertain future.
It nearly wasn’t like this. He had a trial at MK Dons in the summer which didn’t go his way, and a proposed move to Macclesfield also fell through. Had one of those come off, he wouldn’t be stuck in non-league turmoil right now.
But if there’s one thing you can bet on regarding Taylor, it’s that he won’t give up. He has already overcome a cancer battle after being diagnosed in 2018 [BBC] and he has fought back to get on the football pitch and resume his career.
His current season could be coming to an abrupt end and the future may be unclear, yet this is just another bump in the road before he hopefully gets back on track, even if that is away from Old Trafford.
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