The piece below was written yesterday afternoon before the signings of Aaron Ramsey and Karlan Grant were confirmed, but I’ve decided to publish it as it is. I’d like to add a couple of things though – first, these two signings are not guaranteed to succeed, but they both strike me as a step up from what we were seeing last summer and in January, it would seem that last season’s close escape has concentrated a few minds at Cardiff City stadium.
Second, like Craig Bellamy before him, Aaron Ramsey has turned down more attractive options financially to come to Cardiff City Stadium – even if his return doesn’t go as well as hoped, his Bluebird legend status is assured (if it wasn’t already).
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The identity of the player Mehmet Dalman was so excited about in the press conference welcoming Erol Bulut to the club about six weeks ago has been known for a while, but, after much guesswork on social media over the past fortnight or so, we now know that Aaron Ramsey is almost certain to be joining us for the 23/24 season.
Rambo had a medical on Thursday and it would appear that all that can stop the transfer going through is if Nice, the club Ramsey spent last season with, refuse to sanction his release. By making thirty four appearances for the French club in 22/23, Ramsey played enough times to automatically trigger an extension to his contract, and, after a delay which suggested they would not take that option up, there was a statement from the club that they expected the player to turn up next week for the start of pre season training.
There was also another potential fly in the ointment when there were reports that there had been an offer for Ramsey from the moneybags Saudi Arabian league. If wages were the sole criteria behind Ramsey’s desire for a move, then it would be completely straightforward as to who he choose in a battle between City and a Saudi Arabian club, but it appears that a desire to be reunited with his family was the overriding factor behind his decision. Of course, a reported salary of £400k a week during his spell at Juventus would make it easier for a decision a few years later that is not money based to be taken (I’d also add that it’s good to see Saudi Arabia, with its very dubious human rights record, being rejected in complete contrast to what is happening with many top footballers in their thirties and younger and the way golf caved in to them).
Hardly surprisingly, the return of the Prodigal some fifteen years after he left, apart from a month here on loan in 2011, is proving to be a very popular move and it is good to see optimism and a renewed sense of enjoyment around the place.
The news of Aaron Ramsey’s return has not been universally welcomed though. There have been dissenting voices, more on a national level than a local one, arguing that this is a reunion that will not go well. I’ll admit that Ramsey’s performances for Wales over the last nine months have given me doubts as to what sort of player we’re signing – Wales look like a team in steep decline and they really could do with a performance or two from their captain which rolled back the years, but there’s been little sign that it’s going to happen.
To balance that though, Ramsey’s recent club figures suggest that, if he’s clearly not the player who was arguably the best of his kind in the 2016 Euros any more, he’s still got enough left in the tank to be someone who should be able to get by at second tier level. Playing your football for the club you wanted to be with at this stage of your career should have a positive effect on performance as well you’d have thought.
I’ve tended to ignore names mentioned in speculative stories this summer when it comes to signings, but I’ll briefly discuss two. There’s evidence that there was serious interest from City in taking on CSKA Moscow’s Nigerian international winger Chidera Ejuke for the season. Ejuke is on a long term contract with the Russian club, but, given the current isolation of teams from that country from major competitions, he was allowed to move on what was effectively a loan to Hertha Berlin last season – the German team finished at the foot of the Bundesliga and Ejuke, apparently, had a quiet time of it.
However, although you are always wary of the sort of highlights videos that can make the most mediocre player look good, Ejuke’s was genuinely impressive and there were those who thought we were going for a player of above Championship quality. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, after some positive bulletins saying an agreement was imminent, there seems to have been interest in the player from a club that will be in the Champions League this season and the trail has gone cold on this one.
Today however, there have been stories reporting that a loan deal for West Brom striker Karlan Grant is close to going through. Twenty five year old Grant started his career at Charlton and then had a good spell at Huddersfield before earning a £15 million move to the Hawthorns on a six year contract.
Although twenty two goals in ninety six league games halfway through his very long contract is not a terrible return, it’s not what the Baggies would have been expecting and, given that only three of those goals came last season, it’s not surprising that fans of his current side are hardly too upset at the thought of him having a spell away from the club.
That said, Grant was generally regarded to have developed a good partnership with Callum Robinson at West Brom during the 21/22 season and that is a good place to start from if he does come here. Clearly, with that large transfer fee and contract, Grant is a player with ability and he is I suppose typical of the sort of market we have to shop in these days – only the very best clubs can buy players that are guaranteed successes, the rest of us make signings that are gambles and we’ll have to content ourselves in the knowledge that there are always going to be as many, probably more, minuses as plusses when it comes to operating in such a market, but, with three new attackers/strikers likely to be in for the start of the season, you would hope a repeat of last season’s goalscoring woes could be avoided.
There was one of those double pre season games at Cardiff City Stadium last Tuesday afternoon as Bristol Rovers provided the opposition in a a couple of matches lasting sixty minutes each.
City broadly stuck with the team that had been looking like the seniors in the three previous matches where complete elevens had been changed at half time at first and then in subsequent encounters, the hour mark, but, here they made a terrible start against a Rovers team that forced us into errors with an aggressive press and then passed the ball well after they’d won it. Scott Sinclair gave Rovers the lead on ten minutes when the visitors got in down our left and the scorer was left with a virtual tap in from eight yards.
A very similar move. almost led to a doubling of the lead within a couple of minutes, but Rovers were not able to maintain their dominance beyond the twenty minute mark and gradually City were, first, able to match their opponents and then go on to have the better of the second half. In the end, City could, perhaps, have thought they deserved to win, but they had to settle for a draw –Robinson’s good finish from the edge of the penalty area for his third pre season goal ensuring the first match ended 1-1.
The second game could be said to be a mirror image of the first as this time it was City who were the fast starters against a Rovers team which definitely had the look of a second eleven to it.
City fielded new signings Dimitri Goutas and Ike Ugbo along with Callum O’Dowda, getting his first start after a late return to training, and Jamilu Collins in his first return from his ACL injury eleven months earlier.
It was O’Dowda who made the initial impact as he got past his marker down the left and rolled his cross back to the penalty spot area where Ollie Tanner fired in to join Robinson on three pre season goals. Just like in the first game, the beleaguered opponents worked their way back into things and when the four senior players making their first starts of the season all made way at half time, it became something akin to an under 23 game.
It was Rovers who were on top now and, as City made more changes, they spent long periods without the ball as they managed to cling on to their single goal lead. So, City remain unbeaten without having impressed too much in their first four/five games – whether they remain unbeaten after today’s behind closed doors encounter with Fulham remains to be seen (just to say that on the day following this apparent game, I’ve still not seen a single mention of a result or, indeed, whether the match was played or not!).
Finally, the under 21 team played their first pre season match yesterday evening at Barry Town United. The side included the likes of Isaak Davies, Keiron Evans, Joel Colwill and Tom Davies who had all played in senior team friendlies before then were comfortable 3-1 winners with. James Crole and a trialist putting us 2-0 up in the first half before a goal by Jamie Veale (a former City Academy player who had the skill levels to succeed in the pro game I’d have thought) reduced the deficit to make it 2-1 at the break – Evans got the only goal after the break in a game which, from the brief highlights I watched, saw our youngsters play some stylish football..