Wednesday frightened off by Morrison stance

CARDIFF City’s firm stance over Sean Morrison appears to have frightened off Sheffield Wednesday after Owls boss Carlos Carvalhal all but ruled out upping an offer for the Bluebirds skipper.

Cardiff are thought to have rejected a bid of £3m for Morrison from their Championship rivals last month, with manager Neil Warnock hinting that further offers came in for the centre-back who has kept the armband under the Yorkshireman. Warnock did add that it could reach a stage when Cardiff would have to be realistic if bids continued to increase – but stressed he did not want to lose Morrison and that the player was keen to stay in South Wales.

Now the chances of Morrison leading out Warnock’s side for the Championship opener at Burton have been boosted further, with Carvalhal suggesting the deal will be too expensive for Wednesday.

Warnock did not confirm it was the Owls who had moved for Morrison, and likewise Carvalhal – who has taken Wednesday into the play-offs for the past two seasons – did not admit directly his interest in the former Reading defender.

But he told the Sheffield Star: “We want good centre-halves. Everybody knows the good centrehalves in the competition. We have been here two years so we know the best players in the Championship.

“The fans must understand that we have targets but the negotiations are very hard. Clubs are asking for money that we can’t pay and that is the reality.

“When we go to talk, everything is very expensive. We must be careful with Financial Fair Play so it is not easy.

“We don’t want to bring in average quality. We want to bring in players who have the quality to come into our squad.”

Warnock will be hoping Wednesday will drop their interest in Morrison, just as Hull have seemingly given up on persuading Cardiff to cash-in on striker Kenneth Zohore. Warnock reiterated once more on Monday that he had no intention of seeing the Danish hot-shot leave this summer.