WILSON’S ARRIVAL CAPS TRANSFER WINDOW FOR SUCCESSFUL BLUEBIRDS
GIVEN Covid-19 and the huge hit Vincent Tan’s leisure business has taken in the far east, the summer transfer window was always going to prove a challenging one for Cardiff City.
Would the Bluebirds’ charismatic Malaysian owner push the boat out again for a massive push for promotion – or would he drastically cut the budget, leading to mid-table mediocrity?
In the end, thanks to the shrewd negotiations conducted by chairman Mehmet Dalman and chief executive Ken Choo, the Bluebirds have ended up with a complete contradiction of the best of the two worlds.
They suddenly have a much better team – yet they have somehow managed to achieve that by actually spending less money.
Work that one out, then!
But it is a feat Cardiff’s hierarchy have indeed pulled off in a transfer window that leaves fans excited about what the future holds for the rest of the 2020-21 campaign.
While it would be wrong to say Cardiff are ‘Quids in’, the description given to me, it is fair to say they are delighted with the dealings that have taken place.
I’m told Tan was so excited at one stage on the final day of the window that with about two hours to go he also considered a swoop for goalgetter Charlie Austin, on top of everything else.
That probably would have been a step too far, with Kieffer Moore and Robert Glatzel already on Cardiff’s books, but it demonstrated the owner’s enthusiasm, which appears to have been renewed.
Tan feels this is a team more than capable of going up into the Premier League. As such, the pressure is on manager Neil Harris to make the most of the playing riches at his disposal and quickly get the Bluebirds climbing up into the top six.
Leeds, West Brom and Fulham, each better teams than Cardiff in the
Championship last season, are out of the way this time.
Brentford were also superior, but they have lost star forwards Saïd Benrahma and Ollie Watkins.
Cardiff were the best of the rest, so to speak, so logic says they should have been challenging for the top spots this season if they retained their best players.
They have done that, but they have also improved as well, while also shedding numbers from the squad to free up the budget.
Of course, the relegated trio of Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich will have something to say when it comes to promotion.
But as we see time and again in the Championship, it’s not always easy to instantly to regain your Premier League status.
Cardiff have a strong team. And a much-needed younger one. Their work in the window has been excellent.
The stellar capture is that of Harry Wilson from Liverpool. Cardiff chairman Dalman says the money involved to land him is nowhere near as big as has been widely reported.
The Bluebirds are paying a proportion of Wilson’s wages, while the loan fee is self-funding. It has been structured in a way to ensure that if Cardiff go up, they will pay the Premier League champions a lot more money.
“But that means everyone wins,” we were told. “Liverpool will get more money, Wilson’s stock will rise and Cardiff will have Premier League money. It’s win-win, whichever way you look at it, because the initial loan outlay is nowhere near as high as has been suggested.”
Wilson clearly hands a creativity, cutting edge and goal threat that has been sorely missing this season. With Lee Tomlin also in the line-up, Kieffer
Moore in front of them and one of Josh Murphy or Sheyi Ojo out wide, Harris has a fearsome forward foursome at his disposal.
Ojo hasn’t hit his straps yet, but with his Liverpool pedigree he should come good.
Moore, an early arrival during the window, looks a fabulous centre-forward at this level.
Power, physicality, but with deft feet as well. Provided with the right service, which he most certainly has not had thus far, he is capable of scoring lots of goals.
At just £2m, he is a snip and could rival Wilson as the best capture of the window.
Like Wilson, Croatian international defender Filip Benkovic arrived on the final day of the window. It’s not clear what the delay was, but he wasn’t announced until close to midnight.
But Harris is excited about what Benkovic can offer. He was a £13m capture for Leicester and while he has not played in the Premier League for the Foxes, the 23-year-old has earned excellent reviews from loan spells with Celtic and Bristol City.
We’re told he can play in more than one position, presumably full-back and midfield, as well as centre-half.
But Benkovic will be eyeing Curtis Nelson’s position next to skipper Sean Morrison in the middle. That will ensure Nelson returns to top form himself, after a stuttering start to the campaign.
Arsenal loanee Jordi Osei-Tutu has a lot to prove at right-back, but Harris has high hopes of him.
The arrival of Charlton’s highlyrated goalkeeper Dillon Phillips was a surprise, but he is another Harris thinks a lot of. He’ll be second fiddle to Alex Smithies, but Phillips was Charlton’s Player of the Year last season and at 25 has time on his side.
One for the future, perhaps. But you can say that about lots of these signings. They are by and large young, hungry and with plenty to prove. Moore, at 28, is the exception, but he came into top-flight football through a less orthodox non-league route, so he too is full of enthusiasm.
Cardiff haven’t always signed these type of players. Ricky Lambert, for example, sounded great as an ex-England and Liverpool star. But he was 34 when joining the Bluebirds, well past his prime. It was not money well spent.
Neil Warnock inherited Lambert, but he too tended to go with experience at the expense of youth.
The average age of this Cardiff side has suddenly been brought right down by Harris, and that has to be good.
Wilson, Ojo and Benkovic are only 23, Osei-Tutu is 22, Josh Murphy 25.
Midfielders Will Vaulks and Joe Ralls are 27, so too Nelson, Glatzel is 26. Sean Morrison hasn’t hit 30 yet.
In fact, the only first-team regulars around that mark, and they’re only just touching it, are Smithies, Junior Hoilett, Joe Bennett and Lee Tomlin.
It looks a much better blend of youth and experience, legs, energy and pace dovetailed with worldlywise know how. And better realistic first-team depth as a result of the Harris cull, which has created room in the budget.
None of the newcomers are on massive money, but for varying reasons Cardiff have released Aden Flint, Callum Paterson, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Neil Etheridge.
None of those would have been on a pittance.
Mendez-Laing is a huge loss, but the other three were being paid decent sums of money without getting a first-team look-in any more.
It’s been shrewd business to move
them on. They were Warnock signings, but Harris wants his own people.
Other even more fringe figures, Danny Ward, Omar Bogle, Jazz Richards and Matt Connolly have also been released, freeing up funds further.
It means Cardiff have improved their team, yet ended up with more money in the pocket.
Quite how they managed that in today’s money-laden football I’m not quite sure, but manage it they have.
The new-look and streamlined squad appears to be exciting. It’s up to Harris from here on in.