ENGLAND Under-20s defender Taylor Moore insists Bury are not in a relegation fight despite dropping into League One’s bottom four.

The 19-year-old defender joined the Shakers on loan from Bristol City last week and made his debut on Saturday against Scunthorpe at right-back.

Although Moore was not able to make an instant impact he is confident the squad has enough ability to climb the table sooner rather than later.

“I wouldn’t call it a relegation battle,” Moore said. “Listen, there’s still four months to go so anything can happen. If we put together three or four wins we’ll climb back up the table.

“We have got to be very confident, especially the new lads that are coming into the team.

“You don’t want new lads coming in and being negative. We’re here to push people forward and keep them really positive.

“We’ve been playing well, apparently. With the second-half performance against Scunthorpe we didn’t deserve to go away without any points.”

Moore is one of England’s hottest properties and has a fascinating background to his young development.

He spent the majority of his childhood living in France, after his parents moved to the Continent, and signed for RC Lens in July, 2014.

Born in East London, the academic, bilingual youngster was subject to a 10million euro bid from Lyon last year but instead ran down his contract in a bid to find a move back to England, eventually joining Bristol City.

Moore has made 11 appearances for the Championship side this season, but is hoping to get more regular football at Bury after being allowed to go out on loan.

“It’s quite a unique story,” Moore explained. “When I was seven years old my parents decided to move out to France, just for one year.

“After the one year we sat down and thought ‘what’s the plan now?’ We found ourselves staying out there for 13 years. My mum and brothers still live out there now but I moved to Bristol in August.

“I am really excited by the chance to play and show the people of Bury what I can do.

“It definitely was an easy decision once Bury came on the scene. I definitely wanted to go out on loan due to a lack of game time with Bristol City.”

Moore, who can play centre-back, right-back or defensive midfield, has been part of the England youth set up for the past four years.

He played at Gigg Lane for England U18s in their victory over Holland U18s in September, 2014.

The youngster has also trained at Bury’s Carrington complex with the national side and says knowing a bit about the set-up made plumping for the move that bit easier.

Moore said: “I am familiar with the ground and I trained at Carrington with England so I was familiar with the training ground and I’ve got quite a few England team-mates that spoke very highly of the area – Manchester.

“I am quite confident that I will enjoy my time here so I have just got to knuckle down and try to play some really good football.”