AFC Wimbledon move for Lyle Taylor likely to pay off – with striker up for emotional return

Lyle Taylor is keen on a return to AFC Wimbledon.

The striker, 34, is a free agent after leaving Cambridge United at the end of the campaign.

Taylor has long been linked with a switch back to the Dons, where he scored 55 goals in 150 matches as well as 21 assists.

His exploits for Wimbledon led to Charlton Athletic snapping up the frontman and he banged in 36 goals in 67 appearances for the South Londoners – 25 of them in the League One play-off winning campaign in the 2018-19 season.

Then Addicks owner Roland Duchatelet rejected a bid from Brentford that summer and failed to tie down Taylor on new terms.

Taylor then struck 11 times in 22 Championship matches before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down domestic football for a number of months. When it resumed the Montserrat international chose not to play for fear of jeopardising a move as his contract was due to expire.

Taylor signed for Nottingham Forest in August 2020.

Taylor scored 23 goals and bagged seven assists when Wimbledon won the League Two play-offs in 2016.

He opened the scoring in the final against Plymouth Argyle.

Taylor recently told AFC Wimbledon’s website: “The feeling at the time and the noise – it was incredible. I’ve been fortunate enough to score a lot of important goals through my career – a lot for Wimbledon, even Charlton and Nottingham Forest – but nothing quite tops that feeling of scoring that goal.”