After training with Bristol Rovers for the previous eight weeks, Isaac Vassell, a former striker for Cardiff City, Birmingham City, and Luton Town, joined Bath City, a nearby non-league team. Matt Taylor hasn’t ruled out a future move for the striker.
Vassell, 30, is expected to regain match sharpness by playing for the National League South team after more than four years of injury turmoil. He will continue to train with the Gas while he continues to build up his fitness.
The striker, who last competed for Cardiff against Luton in the League Cup on August 27, 2019, entered the game as a substitute 84 minutes into Bath’s 2-1 home loss to Braintree Town on Tuesday night. He will now try to accrue minutes with the sixth-tier team that is vying for promotion to the National League.
We’ve kind of built him over the previous six to eight weeks. He’s a free agent, obviously, and he’s local, and there was enough of a relationship and connection there for him to come in and train with us. However, we were unable to offer him any playing time to watch him in a legitimate football match because there were no upcoming development squad or reserve games. We hardly ever play 11 v 11. You can sprint about during training and small-sided games, though.
“Everyone was happy that he relocated to Bath. Not even a move, simply a signing for Bath in the hopes of earning some meaningful playing time. Jamie McAllister was at the game when he entered the game, I believe on Tuesday night, but he won’t be playing for ten or fifteen minutes. After we’ve built it, we can begin to evaluate him and determine whether we have any future potential together.”
Vassell is no stranger to the South West, having grown up in Newquay and progressed through Plymouth Argyle’s junior system. He was highly sought-after in the EFL seven years ago, having scored 16 goals in 55 games during his one and only season with Luton, when the Hatters were unable to advance from League Two. The striker signed with Birmingham City of the Championship one year after joining from non-league Truro City in the summer of 2016.
But before moving to Cardiff in 2019, where he only played three games before years of injury agony, the Englishman made just 24 appearances for Blues over the course of two years due to a major knee injury.
From Taylor’s perspective, the circumstance presents a free hit. The 30-year-old will continue to train with Rovers while he accrues minutes at Bath, and after that, maybe, it will become more apparent whether the Gas want to take a chance on signing the attacker to a contract.
The Pirates manager disclosed, “We called every non-league team in the area and whoever could obtain him.” “Because Bath is local and appears to be succeeding in their division, it works. I don’t understand why any manager wouldn’t want to sign him as center forwards are in high demand and are practically a given.
“They claim that given his playing time, he will have an influence while he continues to develop and gets closer to playing larger minutes. To be honest, that might not be this season. He only needs a little more time and to be evaluated in an 11 against 11 scenario, so that could be next preseason.
“They train on Thursday nights and play in the middle of the week, so his training with us will be somewhat reduced, but we really just want to watch him play.” We’ve seen enough to conclude that there is undoubtedly something there, but all we want is for him to perform well for Bath, make an impression, and ideally go on to the next phase of their promotion push.”
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