Bristol City midfielder James Morton is on trial with National League Notts County under the watch of former Robins Under-23 manager Luke Williams.
Morton was pictured in a training video posted by the Magpies over the weekend with the 23-year-old having not been part of Nigel Pearson’s plans for the last year. Notts County have their first pre-season fixture on Tuesday against Southern League Basford United.
Williams was appointed at Meadow Lane earlier this month, having left Ashton Gate in 2019 before working alongside Russell Martin at MK Dons and Swansea City. Morton played under the 41-year-old extensively during his time in the West Country.
The pair were nearly reunited at Stadium MK last summer only for the transfer to collapse as Martin moved to Swansea, and Morton spent much of 2021/22 on the sidelines, returning towards the end of the campaign to make some appearances for the Under-23s as they reached the Professional Development League 2 final.
The Bristolian, who has been with City since he was 14 and previously enjoyed loan spells at Forest Green Rovers, Grimsby Town and Gillingham, still has a year to run on his contract at City but Pearson admitted earlier this year that the midfielder deserves to go and win first-team football elsewhere.
Morton made one first-team appearance for City, coming on in the closing stages of a first round League Cup win over Exeter, under Dean Holden in September 2020.
“I have spoken to him at length about his own scenario because he needs to be playing first team football somewhere now,” Pearson said in February. “He’s a decent footballer and a really good lad who’s had a frustrating time with injury.
“Hopefully he can find himself somewhere at some point because it’s a waste of talent for someone not to be playing first team football at the level that is right for them.”
Given Notts County’s position in the pyramid, and the departure of Saikou Janneh last week to Cambridge United, should Morton’s trial prove successful, it’s not thought he would command a transfer fee, with City likely to insert a sell-on clause into any agreement.
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