ATK sign ex-Newcastle United defender Ryan Taylor

The Englishman replaces his compatriot Carl Baker who was ruled out for the rest of the season.

ATK have brought in former Newcastle United defender Ryan Taylor as replacement for winger Carl Baker, who was earlier ruled out for the season. The defending champions of the Indian Super League (ISL), ATK haven't really had the best starts to the season, failing to win a single match in the first four so far this season.

Manager Teddy Sheringham has not delivered yet as the coach of this revamped Bengal Tigers squad, who took a blow early in the season when it was announced that their foreign winger Baker wouldn't be available due to an injury. They have decided to go with an unorthodox replacement in Taylor, who is an experienced player for sure, but isn't really the "attacking" threat which ATK fans would have been hoping for.

The 33-year old Englishman made an impression during his stay at Newcastle for almost six years and he performed pretty well for them in the Premier League. Taylor brings in much more experience than Baker, who had only played in the lower leagues in England. But, it is to be seen how much he can help ATK turn around their season after having a terrible beginning to their title defense.

The left-back has won the Championship with the Magpies and featured in the PFA League One Team of the Year way back in 2004, when he had a terrific season for Tranmere Rovers and even won their Player of their season award.

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Taylor can also play as a midfielder if needed, but he's a versatile full-back who is capable of producing some stellar crosses from deep and will definitely help ATK's attackers in Nyazi Kuqi, Zequinha and Robbie Keane get more chances at goal because of his threatening long balls.

During his six-year stay at Newcastle, Taylor also scored six goals in his 92 games and provided quite a few assists as well. While injuries have hindered his career, Taylor's a brilliant set-piece specialist who can help the powerful players of ATK make more of an impact from now on.

Sheringham will definitely be happy with the signing of the English full-back, who will need to adapt quickly to the difficult conditions of Indian football and hit the ground running for ATK to turn their season around and help them compete at the top of the league  once again.

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The defending champions are starting to see their bad luck slowly fade away and with players like Jayesh Rane, Keane coming back to the team soon, the signing of Taylor could turn out to be a masterstroke for ATK.