Liam Sercombe reunion explored but Cheltenham Town reject Bristol Rovers’ approaches

Bristol Rovers explored the possibility of re-signing midfielder Liam Sercombe from Cheltenham Town for a second spell.

The 31-year-old left the Memorial Stadium in 2020 for Cheltenham, a decision which backfired as last season the two teams swapped divisions.

During a three-year spell with the Gas, he made 127 appearances and scored 19 goals, he was limited to just 22 outings in his final year in his final season.

Sercombe is out of contract at the end of the season but has still been a regular figure in Michael Duffy’s midfield with the club currently battling bravely against the threat of relegation.

He has played 25 times this season, creating three goals and scoring once whilst captaining the team on seven occasions, playing the entire of their last match on Saturday.

A report from GloucestershireLive says that Rovers first explored a loan deal but were rebuffed and then rejected over a permanent offer.

With the two sides deadlocked in their negotiations a deal now looks unlikely to take place unless something dramatic happens in the last few hours of the window.

If the rumours to the likes of Callum Camps, Jon Nolan and Sercombe are to go by then the priority today was to get in a midfielder.

Barton had expressed his desire to get a player in the similar vein of Antony Evans and Sam Finley.

Evans has been influential this season and has the most goal contributions with a GA of 14 from eight assists and six goals.

Finley meanwhile has made an impact as a box-to-box midfielder and has six goal contributions this season.

The 29-year-old though has a groin injury and wasn’t risked in the wins over Scunthorpe and Walsall.

Adding another midfield option would add further depth to an area that they are not short of options on with a number of players fluid in their position.

A left-back had been the other position that Joey Barton wanted to bring depth to with Josh Grant and Nick Anderton recently deployed there.

But other than a rejected bid for Luke Robinson, no other targets have been revealed in the defensive areas.