Bristol City centre-back Taylor Moore heads for Hearts

Hearts have signed Bristol City centre-back Taylor Moore on a season-long loan.

The 24-year-old came through the ranks with Lens and featured in the French club's first team in the 2015/16 campaign.

Moore returned to England in 2016 to sign for Bristol City and after spending time on loan with Blackpool, Southend, Cheltenham and Bury, he made 28 appearances for his parent club last term as they finished 19th in the Championship.

The defender has fallen down the pecking order under Robins boss Nigel Pearson this term and Hearts manager Robbie Neilson, who has been in the market for a centre-back, was delighted to take advantage of the former England Under-20 international's availability ahead of Saturday's cinch Premiership trip to Dundee United.

He told the Hearts website: "Taylor's got a wealth of experience at a really high level, both in England and in France, so to get him here is a bit of a coup.

"His style of play will suit how we play and he's versatile too, which is a bonus, so I'm sure he'll do really well for us."

Hearts have already added Alex Cochrane, Beni Baningime and Ben Woodburn to their squad this summer, while highly-regarded Australian midfielder Cameron Devlin is due to join the Tynecastle club imminently.

Sporting director Joe Savage said: "Our patience in this transfer window is paying off because we are attracting really high-calibre players to the club.

"Taylor was very keen to come up to Hearts which is always a good sign and it shows how well this club is regarded."