We were told that the plan was to get two midfield players and a striker in for Cardiff City this week, well, the transfer window closed yesterday with the job two thirds done – the midfielders arrived, but there was no striker.
Before going on to talk about this, it might be handy to try to clarify what the situation is for Premier League clubs this morning under the new transfer window rules this season. Unlike in previous years, the window has closed before our season has started and, although Football League clubs can still sign players on loan until the end of this month, Premier League clubs are now only able to loan them out. Also, it’s still possible for clubs in other countries to sign players at Premier League clubs until their domestic windows close – in most cases, that will be at the end of August, but, in some cases, Italy for example, their transfer deadline day is a little earlier than that.
Two years ago, Neil Warnock was able to bring in four players a few days after his appointment in October because they were all out of contract, but, it seems, even that option is closed to City now. Wales Online are not the most reliable of sources for transfer window information because they twice stated this week that City could still bring in loan players until September, but this piece corrects that error and also says bringing in out of contract players is no longer an option for us now.
Presumably, we will still be able to bring in a goalkeeper on an emergency loan if we had an injury and/or unavailability crisis in that position, but, apart from that, it seems we are stuck with what we have until January now.
With us going into yesterday with a squad which, to all intents and purposes, contained just three central midfielders (Joe Ralls, Aron Gunnarsson and Loic Damour), it was essential that we had some success in our hunt for players in that position. Yes, you can argue that, say, Sol Bamba and Bobby Decordova-Reid (as he prefers to be known) could do a job in there, but Neil Warnock did not sign them for Cardiff City for that purpose, they came here to play in the position where they have proved most effective and I definitely believe that the higher up you go in any league structure, the less such stopgap, filling in, moves succeed.
Therefore, the signings of Victor Camarasa and Harry Arter in the closing hours of the transfer window were, in my view, very important for our chances of survival – I’d said quite categorically in a reply on the Feedback section that I believed those chances were absolutely zero without central midfield reinforcements.
It probably goes without saying that Camarasa is something of a mystery man to all City fans except, perhaps, for a select few avid La Liga watchers. Although I like my Spanish football, I hardly fall into that category, so I can only comment on him based on what I have read online and the couple of short videos I’ve seen of him in action.
Camarasa was released by Valencia at 17 without playing a game for them, but broke into the first team at Levante three years later after a period in their B side. In 16/17, he was loaned to Alaves, who had just been promoted to La Liga, and made 31 appearances for them. He then signed a five year contract with Real Betis last summer for a fee of around six million Euros – he’s also been capped at Under 21 level by Spain four times.
From what I can gather, Camarasa did not quite make the impact expected of him last season – he scored once in twenty four appearances, but ten of them came off the substitute’s bench. In a possession based team, Camarasa’s physical style, apparently, did not fit in too well and there is an opinion that he is more suited to a team playing in a more direct manner (having seen the two teams playing each other on Saturday, I think it’s safe to say that Cardiff play in a more direct manner than Betis!).
Camarasa played no part in Saturday’s game, but, from what I’ve seen in those videos, he’ll bring strength and an ability to move forward with the ball to our squad, he looks to be a decent passer and, while hardly a prolific scorer, appears to be quite a good finisher.
Our other new player is better known to City fans. Harry Arter’s route to the top flight with Bournemouth was an unusual one as he was released as a nineteen year old by Charlton after making just one substitute appearance in a League Cup tie for them. He then had a season in non league football with Woking before joining Bournemouth for an undisclosed compensation fee.
A couple of months later, he made his debut for Bournemouth on the opening day of the 10/11 season at Charlton as it turns out, but it was not a happy return to the Valley for him as he was booked and substituted at half time. he then spent a period out of the team and was loaned to Carlisle for a month, but when he got back into his parent club’s side, it was to stay.
Following their promotion in 12/13, I looked on Arter as the heartbeat of the impressive Bournemouth side that won the Championship in 14/15 and he was voted Supporters Player of the Year in a campaign which saw him score a number of spectacular long range goals, including a beauty in the 1-1 draw at Cardiff City Stadium.
He got nine goals that season, but they have dried up somewhat in the Premier League for him with some of the reason for that being that he was operating in a deeper role. Arter, who qualifies for the Republic of Ireland through his Sligo born grandparents, has won thirteen international caps and, for me, is the player we have needed to knit things together in the middle of the park – I’m not saying that we are suddenly going to become a silky passing side or anything, but, hopefully, we will be able to keep possession of the ball a bit better with Arter there.
With eighty five yellow cards and three red ones in his career, Arter definitely has a competitive edge to his game, but he can also play and handled the step up in class to the Premier League well in his first two seasons at that level – last season was tougher going for him though as he only featured thirteen times in league games for Bournemouth.
At only 28, Arter’s quieter 17/18 campaign cannot be put down to him going over the top in any way, but the fact Bournemouth were, somewhat reluctantly, prepared to allow him to come here offers the clue that he has been overtaken in their midfield by the likes of Lewis Cook and their club record signing Jefferson Lerma.
Both of the signings confirmed yesterday are on season long loan deals, but, presumably, the club would look to make the Arter signing in particular a permanent one if we were able to stay up this season.
With us being almost universally tipped to go down in twentieth position and considered to have had the worst transfer window by many of the plethora of Premier League pundits, of very varying ability, that spring up at this time of year, there has to be serious doubts as to whether we will be able to avoid the drop, so, will the absence of that striker we wanted cost us?
My view is that it won’t as much as some people are making out it will. Okay, Kenneth Zohore, Gary Madine and Danny Ward are hardly a strikeforce that are going to get Premier League defenders quaking in their boots, but, as I’ve mentioned before on here, we have added thirty Championship goals from last season to our squad with the recruitment of Josh Murphy and Bobby Decordova-Reid and I was encouraged by the way the last two named and Junior Hoilett performed as a front three last weekend.
We now have the players that enable us to play without a big front man if we want to – certainly, doing this would put a greater premium on us being able to pass the ball better than we did at times during the second half of last season in particular, but I’d like to think that Camarasa and Arter will be of great help in enabling us to do this.
There have to be serious doubts as to whether all the additions to our squad will be sufficient to ensure that we will be looking forward to another year in the Championship in twelve months time, but I’d also say that we’re being seriously under estimated by the sort of people who are, in essence, saying that we were promoted because of some sort of fluke last season. I beg to differ, we were a seriously tough side to play against and with the international nature of so many of the teams we are going to be facing, they are not going to have too much experience of coming up against a team like us in their ranks – I feel a few sides will find taking us on an uncomfortable experience at Cardiff City Stadium in paticular.
Finally, I should say that Lee Camp signed a two year deal with Birmingham this week after leaving us on a free transfer, while Omar Bogle departed for the same club on a season long loan deal – no doubt, the club will be hoping for a few more loan departures before he end of this month.
Very happy with the Arter acquisition, Victor seems to have a good pedigree, nice to have midfield options. I feel we now have a fighting chance despite all the expert predictions to the contrary. Fulham have taken a financial gamble and trying to integrate a dozen new players won’t be easy. Wolves have increased their Portuguese contingent but have they got enough firepower?
We have more pace and potentially goals in this squad than our last season in the premiership. How we play Reid will be key to how successful we are.
Thanks Paul great synopsis of where we are , you have stolen my thunder and thoughts .
I think the two midfield signings are perhaps better options than Grujic and Snodgrass, the Liverpool lad has no proven experience and could have been a risk, Snodgrass and his wage would have caused an uneven balance in the dressing room.
Never got the need for another striker , we have signed two , we have the mighty Junior,all have pace to burn , we have two big lads, both with contrasting styles , and lets not forget Danny Ward who on the brief occasions I’ve since seen him last year , looked promising . I guess Healey will be loaned out.
It will be tough for us, are we better resourced than last time (yes)
Do we have more pace than last time (yes)
Do we have more/ better strikers this time (yes)
Do we have better team spirit and togetherness this time ( yes)
Do we have a better expeinced management team this time around (yes)
Are there more teams we can get results from than last time (IMO yes)
In the immortal ( poetic words) of the Ramones Hey Ho, let’s go
Paul and others – Seven hours to kick-off, and following Thursday’s arrivals, my half empty glass has become half full again. Messrs Arter and Camarasa will have points to prove to their main employers over the next few months, and both seem to have the attributes that are needed in the middle of the park for our lot. However, quite how we fir everyone that we have acquired over the summer into a starting eleven is a puzzle, and one that NW will be glad to have for he now has options, and a stronger bench if needed.
As far as this afternoon is concerned, I don’t expect our Spaniard to start as he will need more time in training and Arter is obviously unavailable, so a draw will be a good result. So my ears will be glued to the radio, my eyes likewise to Sky, and my City shirt proudly worn as we embark on our second Premier league journey. We can do this|!!