Taylor Moore: Skippering England's golden generation via northern France

When an 18-year-old Cheltenham lad called Eric Dier made his professional debut for Sporting CP in 2012 - during which he lined up alongside Marcos Rojo and laid on an assist for Ricky van Wolfswinkel - it marked an unconventional route for a young Englishman in the game.

That was until just three years down the line, when a Walthamstow native was forging a familiar route in northern France.

"I'm far from being the player that Eric Dier is today, of course, but our stories do match," Taylor Moore, who is in his sixth year at RC Lens having joined at the age of 12, told theScore.

From Dier's experiences at Tottenham Hotspur and with England at senior and youth levels, he soon noticed there were differences between his education in Portugal and that of his national team colleagues.

"A good player for them was someone who could understand when they made a mistake and correct it for themselves," Dier told the Guardian of his Lisbon days last October. "When I first came to England to play I saw coaches having a go at players when they made mistakes and they would literally be talking them through the game.

"In Portugal the coach would sit on the bench and not say a word. We'd just play. It was a matter of us making mistakes and learning from them by ourselves. You understand the game a lot better that way. For me, the sign of a bad player is someone who makes the same mistake twice."

'The system's very different'

Moore was picked up five years after his parents opted to live in France for what was intended to be a year but has since swelled to 11. Both Moore and his younger brother Keaton, who represents Lens' Under-16s, found that football helped them "integrate in the best way possible" in their adopted home. Although, like Dier, the eldest is aware of how his experiences have varied from those of his England U19 teammates. That doesn't mean the coaching and treatment he's received is better, though.

"I wouldn't say I have an advantage, I'd just say the system's very different," Moore described from his apartment in the old mining town. "You're at boarding school, you spend the whole week with the club really, so they control what you eat, what you're doing, how stuff's going school-wise - they control a lot.

"It's a brilliant way to do it, and I think there's a statistic that says there's more professional footballers from France than any other country. I've enjoyed every minute of coming through the system at Lens, and admire the way they do things."

Moore, a versatile defender, initially found his route into professional football relatively seamless. He superbly displayed his maturity and composure when making his bow in Ligue 1 last season, but this season has struggled to make an impression on Antoine Kombouare’s starting XI in the second tier.

"I haven't really been involved with the first team since December. I'm captaining the Under-21s and feel I have been playing well but the manager has opted for experience in the first team as it pushes for promotion."

Young Lion

On the international stage, things couldn't have fared much better. Moore skippers Aidy Boothroyd's U19s, a squad that boasts the likes of Manchester United regular Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Manchester City's £11-million man Patrick Roberts, with whom Moore rooms with when on national team duty.

Boothroyd has picked his captain well. Like with much of the squad, Moore was present in the U17 European Championship triumph two years ago, and donned the armband when progression to the U19 equivalent was confirmed via a magnificent 2-0 win in Spain last month. The winning mentality in Moore is clear: when reminded of qualification he immediately smiles, but then grimaces when recalling a 2-1 win over Georgia a few days earlier "that should've been five or six-nil."

Considering the U19s' successes at various age levels and its players already making first-team inroads at club level, is this a golden generation for England?

"I think so," he said without hesitation.

"I wouldn't want to be any other European or world team looking at one of our games and analysing what they're going to have to do to try and beat us. I believe we're that good we can scare anybody; I believe we can go all the way."

Return home?

Moore's exploits for his country haven't gone unnoticed, as Tottenham is reported to be vying with West Ham United, Southampton, and Crystal Palace for the youngster’s signature.

"It's nice to see that hard work puts me on the radar for English clubs," he confessed to theScore. "It's flattering, but I just need to see the season out with Lens and see what the best option is at the end of the season."

Given his father's Spurs allegiances and the path his career has taken so far, perhaps one day Moore could be marshalling the back behind his continental cousin Dier for both club and country.