Bristol Rovers should keep an eye on Notts County situation as January approaches | OneFootball

One of League Two's top talents, Dan Crowley, is out of contract in the summer. Struggling Bristol Rovers would be crazy not to try and snap him up.

Notts County's Dan Crowley has emerged as one of League Two's top talents in recent years and, with his contract due to expire in the summer, he could be the perfect answer to Bristol Rovers' creative problems.

Having reportedly rejected an offer tabled by MK Dons in the summer, the club have, as yet, been unsuccessful in renewing their number seven's services in the form of a contract extension.

Several high-reputation midfielders in England's fourth tier find themselves on course to become a free agent this July, including John Fleck, Dean Campbell, and Ethan Chislett.

However, for Rovers and their new boss Iñigo Calderón, Crowley seems like a perfect addition to a squad whose current attacking midfielders are desperately underperforming.

Dan Crowley is a creative force ready to step up

The former Arsenal academy man is a favourite at Meadow Lane, having collected 26-goal involvements last season and earning a place in the 2023/24 PFA League Two Team of the Year.

While mildly hampered by injury, his second campaign at the world's oldest professional club has continued largely the same, with four goals and six assists before the turn of the new year, the most recent of which coming in Sunday's visit to Cheltenham.

That consistently high output indicates the 27-year-old may be ready for a step-up the pyramid sooner rather than later. The question is whether he wishes to try and achieve that with promotion-chasing Notts County or by moving elsewhere in January.

With no indication of a contract renewal, the Magpies may be reluctantly looking to offload the midfielder for a fee during the upcoming window to avoid the eventuality of one of their most lucrative assets leaving on a free.

Crowley can revamp Bristol Rovers' chance creation

According to FotMob, aside from versatile wide-man Luke Thomas (4), no Bristol Rovers player finds themselves among the top 100 players league-wide when it comes to big chances created.

This goes some way to explaining the troubling dearth of top-quality service provided to the centre forwards.

This is in stark contrast to Crowley, who has created 11 big chances so far this season, currently highest in the fourth tier.

This level of output, while not necessarily guaranteed in a new set-up, suggests Crowley could be better equipped than anyone to change fortunes at the Memorial stadium.

While Calderón and director of football George Friend will both undoubtedly have their own long list of transfer targets going into a crucial winter window, you would have to hope that Crowley is very high up that list given his apparent answer to the Pirates' biggest question: Where are the chances coming from?

It would be entirely unsurprising if nearly all of League One's 24 teams were thinking of grabbing Crowley's attention, and if that does happen, perhaps relegation-threatened Rovers are not the ideal destination for a player looking for a move out of League Two.

While chances could well be slim, not even attempting to acquire the services of the Coventry-born playmaker would be a misstep, as he appears as though he is such an overwhelmingly perfect addition considering the weaknesses at hand.