A quiet week on the Cardiff City news front, with the only new concrete info we have as far as the club goes that I can recall being that we’ve had confirmation that the game to be played during the training week in the Republic of Ireland in a month’s time will be against Cork City on the 14th. The Rebel Army, as they’re known, are currently a long way clear at the top of Ireland’s second tier, having been relegated last season despite reaching that country’s Cup Final.
The club also confirmed towards the end of the week that Robert Tankiewicz, who held the record for our =youngest ever first team player for an hour or so last year, signed a pro deal for City on his seventeenth birthday – no details were given as to how long the contract was for.
As far as transfer gossip goes, there’s not been much of it, although this story did claim that we’re searching for a new number six type midfielder, a left back, a winger and a striker this summer and it was said that City will be pleased with their business if they can bring them all in during the coming weeks.
Those positions seem to me the ones where we most need new arrivals, but I’d also like to see a second central midfielder prioritised. As it stands, I think we have to be realistic and say that we may well end up having to start looking for a new centreback because there are quite a few “in the know” types telling us that it’s likely Dylan Lawlor will be leaving City this summer.
Apparently, there is serious interest in our young centre half, but as to who it’s coming from, only West Ham United seem to be being mentioned currently. In fact, if some reports are to be believed, the Hammers are looking to take a number of our best young prospects off us. All I can say to this is that, for the sake of Dylan and any other City youngsters targeted by the East London club, I hope nothing comes of these rumours because they are a shambles of a club at the moment that, lest we forget, will be playing in the same division as us next season.
West Ham, Wolves and Southampton are three clubs about which I’ve seen it claimed they have to go up in 26/27 or they will be facing some sort of financial Armageddon. Now, that trio will probably be many people’s tips for promotion, but, if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t mind a wager that at least one of them will miss out. To be honest, I’d nominate West Ham as the most likely Champions of the division at the moment, but, having heard one of their fans tip them for relegation a couple of weeks ago, I’ve come across two or three similar type predictions in the past week.
As mentioned before, West Ham are a shambles – a club of their size should never really get relegated from the modern Premier League. Yet, they were in disarray on and off the pitch even before last week’s television expose of joint Chairman David Sullivan which brought about the ex porn merchant’s resignation.
There are reasonable grounds for placing both Wolves and Southampton in the shambles category as well. The first named had been basking in the praise of pundits and fans alike for getting Brazilian international midfielder Andre to commit to a new four year deal despite their relegation and for the free transfer signings of veterans Keiron Trippier and Raul Jimenez. However, that was before they made what looks like a bonkers decision from the outside of sacking manager Rob Edwards (who it was widely assumed had been given the job in the first place to prepare for a relegation which looked inevitable even last autumn) this week.
Now, Edwards’ stock has fallen recently with a couple of relegations following him getting Luton promoted to the Premier League against the odds in 2023, while the way he walked out on Middlesbrough to join Wolves left something of a sour taste. Yet, with the man widely believed to be replacing him, Cesar Poixoto, having a managerial/coaching record which, on paper, appears much worse than Edwards’ , the whole thing is looking like something of an own goal at the moment – especially if rumours saying that Trippier is considering withdrawing from his transfer because of Edwards’ dismissal prove to be true.
Southampton have been widely thought to have done good business by getting two of their better loan players from last season to commit to the club on a permanent basis. However, by sticking by manager Tonda Eckert following the Spygate scandal which cost them a Play Off Final place, it seems to me that the Saints are putting a great big target on the back of their shirts for 26/27 – especially when they go to places like Derby, Wrexham and Middlesbrough.
No, if I were a young footballer attracting the attention of so called bigger clubs this summer, I would be very dubious about signing for West Ham – or Wolves and Southampton for that matter.
Returning to City’s alleged four targets, central midfield is clearly the most pressing concern, but, having got through last season with just one left back with any real league experience contracted to the club, it would be asking for trouble to try it again. As for a winger, with Chelsea confirming that they’d like a loan transfer for Omari Kellyman sorted out sooner rather than later and supporters seemingly united about wanting him back for a second stay, then you’d expect something could be worked out there. However, I keep seeing that we need a speed merchant out wide and I wouldn’t say Kellyman fits that bill – BBM has single mindedly got rid of last season’s Player of the Year and Player’s Player of the Year, so it’s clear he knows exactly what he wants and it may be that he does not see Kellyman as an option out wide for the higher level.
Of course, Kellyman has many strings to his bow and so it might be that, if he came to City next season, it would be to play more centrally as an alternative to Yousef Salech. There is though a striker who is being linked to us on a fairly regular basis. Jayden Wareham scored an impressive nineteen league goals in forty six appearances for relegated Exeter last season and is, seemingly, valued at around £1 million which strikes me as a bit of a bargain when you hear that Leyton Orient are asking for around eight times that amount for the far more highly touted Dom Ballard who scored four more goals last season than Wareham.
The other new name I’ve seen linked with us this week is someone who is involved in the World Cup at the moment. Unlike Alex Robertson, Cammy Devlin made the Australian squad and has five caps for his country. Devlin is out of contract at the end of June and although it’s understood that his current club, Hearts, want to keep him, it seems that City are one of a few Championship clubs who have an interest in signing him.
Devlin is, apparently, the number six type City need following Ryan Wintle’s departure and I’ve read he’s very popular with followers of the jam tarts who lost out on the Scottish Premier League title right at the last. The “but” is though that I’m continually hearing and reading about the need for a big, physical presence in the the middle of the park for us, At five foot seven, Devlin hardly fits that bill.
Finally, the aforementioned Robert Tankiewicz joined other City youngsters Noah Williams and Jac Thomas in the starting line up for Wales Under 19’s latest warm up game against Sweden on Monday, but, despite taking an early lead, we ended up on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline.
