Any Rubin Colwill and Dimitrios Goutas transfer advances must be snubbed.
Something of a squad rebuild awaits Cardiff City for the third summer running, with Erol Bulut looking to construct a team capable of challenging for play-off contention free of the handicaps of a partial transfer embargo and, it will be hoped, the hazard of falling foul of the EFL’s Profit and Sustainability regulations.
Both implications were real impediments to Cardiff’s activity last summer and back in January too, but they’re now reared and ready to undertake a transfer window of real significance ahead of the 2024/25 season. The squad surgery that Cardiff must conduct in the coming weeks is barely embroiled in mystery with at least two strikers, a winger if not two, additional options in midfield and fresh impetus in central defence all bound to appear on Bulut’s summer wishlist.
Therefore, it can be easy to forget that the Bluebirds’ success in this window will also be underlined by player retention, a determinant that remains equally crucial if Bulut and Cardiff are to realise their mutual ambitions of challenging for a return to the Premier League come 2025.
In what serves as more of a stark reminder of troubled recent history than anything else, Cardiff had seldom encountered any real risk of a poaching of their prized assets – save for Kieffer Moore’s controversial transfer to Bournemouth in 2022 – but it’s now a testament to the club’s fresh upwards progression across 2023/24 that they’re braced for external transfer advances. The importance of rebuffing certain approaches cannot be understated however, and there are two outstanding players that Cardiff simply must retain at (almost) all costs.
Rubin Colwill
Rubin Colwill Cardiff City
An unusually-divisive figure among supporters, Ruben Colwill’s precocious talent is little secret and it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Premier League clubs are understood to be keen on investing in his long-term potential.
Top-flight newcomers Ipswich Town, who have developed a penchant for optimal talent development under innovative Head Coach Kieran McKenna and are also reportedly close to brokering a deal for ex-City loan star Jaden Philogene, have been mooted as known admirers of Colwill ahead of their first Premier League crusade in over 20 years.
Arsenal have also been monitoring Colwill, according to reports, with Mikel Arteta’s second-in-command, Albert Stuivenberg, having seen plenty of the playmaker during his previous role with the Welsh national team.
Colwill has seen trials and tribulations imposed upon his progression through the unforgiving fortune of recurring injuries – some of which have been inflicted by an unprecedented growth spurt, while Cardiff’s style of play and high managerial turnover have both also contributed to an instability that has been anything but conducive to truly unlocking his potential.
Nonetheless, there is a growing school of thought that Colwill could make next season his own at a critical juncture of his career. He finished the season strongly with Cardiff and has been elevated in Bulut’s thinking in recent months, with the City faithful now hoping that he can establish and sustain himself as a star-turn in the side in a season they will hope can yield a push towards the top-six positions.
