{"id":958065,"date":"2026-05-13T23:33:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/958065\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T23:33:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:33:27","slug":"bristol-rovers-transfer-briefing-southwood-and-ward-interest-centre-back-pursuit-intensified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/958065\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Rovers transfer briefing: Southwood and Ward interest, Centre-back pursuit intensified"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke Southwood and Jed Ward are attracting interest from EFL clubs, while Carl Piergianni is not currently on Bristol Rovers’ radar<\/p>\n

Jed Ward, Goalkeeper of Yeovil Town chilling out before the National League match between Yeovil Town and Truro City at Huish Park, Yeovil on 3 April 2026 (Photo: Phil Mingo\/PPAUK)(Image: Getty Images \/ Phil Mingo\/PPAUK)<\/p>\n

Bristol Live<\/a> understands that Blackpool have enquired about Luke Southwood, while York City, among others, have shown a firm interest in Jed Ward.<\/p>\n

In terms of potential incomings, centre-back is a position that Bristol Rovers<\/a> are actively looking to strengthen this summer.<\/p>\n

A name that has been linked with the club in recent weeks is Stevenage\u2019s Carl Piergianni, but we understand that the 34-year-old is not currently on the club\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n

Despite this, the Gas are firmly interested in a left-sided centre-back in League One.<\/p>\n

While Kofi Balmer is set to sign a pre-contract, Tom Lockyer has departed, and Taylor Moore was transfer-listed last week, emphasising the need for centre-back additions this summer.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: 372 matches, 1.53 PPG – Steve Evans’ League Two record in full<\/a>READ MORE: ‘No longer going to be a scattergun approach’ – Steve Evans on Bristol Rovers’ recruitment strategy<\/a>More on Luke Southwood and Jed Ward<\/strong><\/p>\n

Southwood and Ward were two of the seven players to be listed as available for transfer\/loan by the club last Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Blackpool have already enquired about Southwood and are weighing up a move for the 28-year-old.<\/p>\n

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The goalkeeper played for Blackpool head coach Ian Evatt at Bolton Wanderers, breaking into the first-team to replace Nathan Baxter in January 2025 just before Steven Schumacher replaced Evatt.<\/p>\n

York are also understood to have a firm interest in Ward following the 22-year-old\u2019s impressive campaign on loan at Yeovil Town, which saw him win four end-of-season awards, including Players’ Player of the Season and Supporters’ Player of the Season.<\/p>\n

\"Jed<\/p>\n

Jed Ward of Yeovil Town saves a penalty during the National League match between Altrincham and Yeovil Town at The J. Davidson Stadium, Altrincham on 7 February 2026 (Photo: Steve Flynn\/PPAUK)(Image: Steve Flynn\/PPAUK)<\/p>\n

Bristol Rovers’ centre-back pursuit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Piergianni played under Evans during Stevenage\u2019s 2022\/23 promotion season from League Two<\/a> and has remained at the club since, guiding them to the League One play-offs during the current campaign.<\/p>\n

We understand that Rovers are not currently pursuing the 34-year-old, but a left-sided centre-back in League One is one of three or four players that the club are actively working on.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE: Bristol Rovers transfer latest: Permanent moves for Balmer and Smallwood, Hutchinson and Cavegn interest<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Southwood and Jed Ward are attracting interest from EFL clubs, while Carl Piergianni is not currently on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,10648,2707,748,393,82550,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-958065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-live","10":"tag-bristol-rovers-fc","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-football-league-2","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116569886580673507","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}