Bluebirds taking an interest in County star Rodrigues
CARDIFF City are among a number of clubs linked with a move for Notts County’s Portuguese striker Ruben Rodrigues.
New manager Erol Bulut has come in and said he wants as many as 10 new signings as he attempts to get his side fighting at the top end of the table following two disappointing years.
Indeed, he said he wants to add to the forward areas, saying it was a department in which City needs to “invest” this summer, after they finished the year as the division’s second-lowest scorers.
And now Football Insider report that Cardiff, Derby County, Portsmouth, Barnsley and Oxford United are all interested in Rodrigues, 26, after contributing to 34 goals for the Magpies as they achieved promotion into League Two.
Rodrigues scored 19 goals and provided 15 assists for the Meadow Lane outfit - he has scored 35 league goals across two seasons for County - but is out of contract at the end of the month, prompting glances from teams higher up in the football pyramid.
City certainly need to add goals to their ranks, and it is understood Rodrigues is someone Cardiff are aware of and have watched him, but have played down that he is an active target at this stage.
■ A Turkish football expert has told Cardiff City fans they should be “excited” by the appointment of Bulut.
Speaking to the Second Tier Podcast, Ahmet Bob Turgut, a journalist who worked for Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet, said: “Cardiff fans should be excited about him, because he is a very right, young coach and he likes to listen. He is very social, talkative and the plus for him is that he can explain himself when he talks to media.
“I was very surprised about the interview I just watched of him on the Cardiff website, it’s very good. I think he talks about good things for Cardiff and the fans there.”
He added: “One thing I like about him is that he believes in the system, because of the education he got from Germany. Different from other coaches in Turkey right now, very few coaches can speak German and English - that will be a plus for him to explain himself to English media.
“I think it’s the right choice. He is only 48 years old but he’s got a lot of experience.
“When he coached Fenerbahce he was under a lot of pressure, there were too many star players in the team and he couldn’t handle the star players.
“And then what happens when the fans get on your case, then the coach starts to struggle. That’s what happened with him at Fenerbahce. But overall I think he is a good coach who could do well with the new team.
“He likes to play two forwards up top. Sometimes he could change to one. He believes in a three-man defence and plays a very strong midfield.
“That’s how he used to play in the Turkish Super Lig. When he coached Alanyaspor I think he did very good stuff there.
“I think he came to Fenerbahce too quick, to coach. They have 20 or 25 million supporters, one of the biggest clubs in Turkey. He did not have the right tools to coach and he couldn’t control the star players, if you ask me.”
Turgut believes Bulut will be wellequipped to deal with Cardiff ’s financial strife as he will have dealt with it a lot during his time in Turkey.
And he also thinks that Cardiff is a good move for Bulut, too, who, he says, likely has aspirations to manager in the Premier League.
“I don’t know much about Cardiff’s financial situation, but I think with the players and I’m sure he will have to get a couple of players, let’s hope he will do wonders there,” he added.
“Because there are a lot of teams in the Turkish Super Lig who are in financial troubles after Covid, pretty much every team is struggling.
“That’s one of the reasons why Cardiff chose to hire him. He is probably not a high-ticket coach to get.
“I’m sure they will pay him good and it’s a good step for him if he wants to coach in the big leagues, because if he shows something there it might mean a step up to the Premier League.
“That’s probably one of the reasons he came to Cardiff, because it’s probably a step down right now from coaching in the Turkish Super Lig.”
■ FOUR clubs are eyeing a move for Swansea striker Morgan Whittaker this summer.
Football Insider report Rangers, Plymouth Argyle, Coventry City and Sunderland have all expressed an interest in the 22-year-old.
Gers and the Pilgrims’ links with the attacker date back six months, with Whittaker having spent a fruitful six months at Home Park on loan, which first alerted the Scottish giants to his services.
Plymouth, recently promoted to the Championship, have made no secret of the fact they’d like to bring him back to Devon, while Rangers boss Michael Beale was open on his admiration for the Derby County product. Whittaker still has two years to run on his Swansea contract and he may well be keen to see who the next manager is in SA1 before making any decision on his future.