CANDID CAMARASA!

Warnock should be manager of season if we beat the drop

VICTOR CAMARASA believes Neil Warnock should be named manager of the year if he keeps Cardiff up.

Any Bluebirds fans fearing the relationship between best player Camarasa and manager Warnock might be dented by a recent mix-up over his fitness have nothing to worry about.

Because Camarasa’s admiration for his veteran boss remains as great as ever.

And it will only grow if Warnock can lead third-bottom Cardiff to safety – especially in a season when the club were left shell-shocked by the death of Emiliano Sala.

Camarasa revealed that he had been lined up to do some translating for the striker, who tragically never arrived.

The on-loan Spanish midfielder said: “If Cardiff stay in the Premier League, of course, he will deserve that prize.

“And not just because of that. He is doing a great job and players that are playing every week are happy, logically.

“But, also, players that don’t play so often are happy because the manager has a good management style, so everyone feels part of the whole squad and plan.

“The manager doesn’t have Barca players. But he knows how to use each player, adapt his style and get the best out of the team and I’m happy because of that.”

In his own colourful style, Warnock claimed Camarasa was listening to “his physios, medical people and Tom, Dick and Harry from abroad” as he recovered from a calf injury earlier this year.

But Camarasa was keen to play the whole situation down.

He totally understood Warnock’s frustration as “logical”, with Camarasa so important to Cardiff ’s cause, and explained it away as a small breakdown in communication between his own team and the club’s medics at the start of his rehab.

“Now the final countdown of the season has begun, I am fully recovered – that’s the most important thing,” Camarasa, said ahead of today’s Chelsea clash.

“I’m the first that wants to play and be fit and ready for games. My passion for football was there even when I was a little kid.

“I know ahead there are difficult matches with Champions League teams, but we can win some games to stay up. All can happen.”

And Camarasa is so focused on keeping Cardiff up that thoughts of his own future have been put to the back of his mind. He has caught the eye of Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton since joining on loan last summer from Real Betis, but said: “Now, the most important thing is keeping Cardiff in the Premier League.”

Doing that would be a huge achievement in a season when the death of striker Sala (below) in a plane crash rocked the club .

Camarasa was affected personally by the harrowing January tragedy, which has only increased Cardiff ’s determination to stay up.

Camarasa said: “[Player liaison officer] Callum Davies asked me to help with the language barrier because Emiliano and I could speak Spanish together.

“The day of the tragedy I was expecting a call from Emiliano, but that phone call never came because of the accident.

“Later on, Callum asked, ‘Did he call you?’ I said, ‘No’, but didn’t know what happened at that time.

“It was on Monday when my girlfriend Carla told me they could not find him and it was serious.

“The death of a team member is a unique scenario. If we can keep Cardiff in the Premier League this will show our strength.

“After what happened, we are playing not just to win for Cardiff – but also for Emiliano.”