With the money from the sales of Dusan Perovic and Riechedly Bazoer still firmly in their front pockets, Cardiff City have sanctioned the signings of two huge deals
Cadiff, who have sold £116m worth of talent in this transfer window, have dipped back into the market following the signings of Jair, Zulu and Ferreira, so who have they taken the plunge on?
The first player in was 22 year old Matthew Page, who has joined the Bluebirds from Fulham for £14m
Page, a central midfielder, has been brought in as backup to key midfielders following the departures of Soren Johansen, Riechedly Bazoer, Leonardo Blanco and Jonny Williams
Wolverhampton-born Page made 35 league appearances for Fulham in his sole season at the club, after signing from boyhood club West Bromwich Albion for £8m View attachment 143103
Page made 65 league appearances for West Brom as well as 84 league appearances for Port Vale, where he spent two seasons on loan earlier in his career
The second to join the Bluebirds was another midfielder, David Brown, who has joined the Bluebirds for £25m for strugglers Watford
Brown, 22, made 59 league appearances for Watford and is widely seen as the reason they managed to stay up last season, making 35 appearances and winning the Fans' Player of the Year award
Brown, who was touted as a future England international, has had a stop start career, being loaned to Norwich, Ipswich and Sheffield United all in one season as well as Swansea City the next season
Brown, who won the French Youth Invitational with England in 2020, will be hoping this career will further his progress down the right track View attachment 143102
Amid the mega-money deals of the transfer window, there have been a few transfers that have gone under the radar so far, despite some of the players coming and going being pretty high profile, so who are the "Forgotten Men"?
OUT
JONNY WILLIAMS View attachment 142995
One player who left quite early in the transfer window was 27 year old Welsh international Jonny Williams
Jonny has joined Wolverhampton Wanderers for £2m after spending 2 years with the Bluebirds after joining on a free from Crystal Palace. Jonny made 9 league appearances for the club adding to the 37 he made on a loan spell in 2015/16
JAKE COOPER View attachment 142994
A dedicated servant of the club who joined from Reading to replace Ben Gibson in 2018, Jake has fallen foul of the club's rapid rise
Cooper, who has left to join Watford for £5.5m, made 45 league appearances for the Bluebirds over three seasons, winning the Europa League, European Super Cup and FA Cup with Cardiff before leaving
LEONARDO BLANCO View attachment 142993
Leonardo joined the Bluebirds from his boyhood club Atletico Nacional in Colombia back in 2017 for just £130,000
Four years and no appearances later, Leonardo has moved up to Derby having spent 4 years on loan at Halmstads BK in Sweden earning his work permit
Blanco made 87 league appearances in Sweden before joining Derby for £5m
SHOTA BREGADZE View attachment 142992
Shota, like Blanco, joined the club in 2017, signing from Georgian side Torpedo Kutaisi for £12,000
Bregadze also spent time on loan at Halmstads BK in Sweden, spending 4 years with the Swedish club and making 94 league appearances before joining iddlesbrough for £1.2m
DONIS AVDIJAJ View attachment 142991
Last but not least is the departure of Donis Avdijaj, who has joined Leicester City on loan until the end of the season
Donis has failed to live up to his early promise after signing from Bayer Leverkusen for £11.5m ahead of the 2018/19 season, a season in which he scored 18 league goals
Since then, however, he has fallen out with senior staff and made his just 26 league appearances over 2 seasons, scoring 3 goals
INS
JAMIE VARDY View attachment 142990
Leicester City icon Jamie Vardy has joined the Bluebirds on a free after his contract with the Foxes expired
Vardy, 34, has joined the Bluebirds on a 2 year deal and will be a player as well as an Under 18s coach
Vardy, who has 3 England caps, 282 league appearances and scored 124 league goals for Leicester over 9 years at the club
NICKY REED View attachment 142989
Next to join was Nicky Reed, who's signed for £2m from Sheffield Wednesday
Reed, who can play up front or in behind the striker, has plenty of potential and was spotted early by the Cardiff staff, enabling the two clubs to strike a favourable deal
GARETH HARROP View attachment 142988
Next to sign was another youngster, this time it was Gareth Harrop, a 17 year old goalkeeper who has cost the Bluebirds the princely sum of £4m
Harrop, who's joined from Reading, started his career at Portsmouth before joining the Royals and then moving to Cardiff
CEZARY ROGALA View attachment 142987
Another youngster! Cezary Rogala is a 17 year old Polish striker with an eye for goal, having alread scored 3 goals for the Polish Under 21s
Joining from Legia Warsaw for £2.4m, Rogala is full of promise and looks like a future Number 9 at Cardiff
TONY WEAVER View attachment 142986
Next to sign was 22 year old English left winger Tony Weaver, who's signed from Chelsea for £500,000
Weaver, who's been capped by England at Under 19 level, never played for Chelsea and has only managed to rack up 7 league appearances in his 7 year career
NATHAN CLAUDON View attachment 142985
Last but certainly not least is 21 year old French striker Nathan Claudon who's signed from French side Paris Saint-Germain for £3m
Claudon, who was produced by the academy at PSG, made 9 league appearances for the club and scored one goal before joining the Bluebirds
Claudon, who tasted success b winning the European Under 21 Championship in France this summer, will be hoping to kickstart his career in the Welsh capital
AUGUST View attachment 142976
We begin the season at Wembley against Manchester United in the Community Shield, oh God...
COMMUNITY SHIELD
Manchester United 3-0 Cardiff City View attachment 142975
Meret, Gunter, Jair, Burke, Ganea, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Oliver, Angerschmid (G.Boyle 62), Werner (Ferreira 57)
We held on really well and went in 0-0 at half-time, unfortunately United scored early on in the second half which destroyed our confidence and allowed the Premier League champions to run riot
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Crystal Palace 0-3 Cardiff City View attachment 142973
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Burke, Ganea, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Oliver (Ferreira 75), Angerschmid (Zulu 75), Werner
We dominated the game and took the lead on the stroke of half time through Marco Angerschmid. We continued our dominance in the second half and grabbed two more to wrap the game up. David Brown got a goal and the Man of the Match award on his Premier League debut for the club
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 2-1 Leeds United View attachment 142971
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Burke, Ganea, Zielinski (Rossiter 67), Brown, Green, Oliver, Angerschmid (Ferreira 67), Werner
We smashed Leeds who scored one of their two shots on target to put the cat amongst the pidgeons in the second half. We had 26 shots and 58% possession in this game, good.
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Chelsea 2-1 Cardiff City View attachment 142970
Meret, Gunter, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 81), Green, Oliver (Ferreira 67), Angerschmid, Werner (G.Boyle 81)
A good showing away at Chelsea in a game we were unlucky to lose. If we keep playing this way we're going places. Yusuke Nakagawa made his first start of the season after coming back from the Olympics in his native Japan
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 3-0 Stoke City View attachment 142968
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Burke, Ganea, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 77), P.Boyle, Oliver (Ferreira 67), Angerschmid (Zulu 67), Werner
A very impressive, dominant display at home to Stoke. A good way to get back on track after that disheartening defeat away to Chelsea, a 3-0 win was a huge display of intent
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 142967
A strong start to the season with 3 wins from 4, good stuff lads
SEPTEMBER View attachment 142889
A fairly strong showing in August has put us in a good position going into September, lets keep this going
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Watford 1-0 Cardiff City View attachment 142888
Meret, Arrigoni, Smalling, Jair, Ganea, Zielinski (Grant 74), Brown, Green (P.Boyle 64), Oliver, Angerschmid, Werner (G.Boyle 16)
A very poor start to the month, we dominated the game but just couldn't put the ball in the net. We had so many clear cut chances but just couldn't convert for some reason, disappointing but if we keep playing like this we'll push up the table
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 2-0 Newcastle United View attachment 142887
Meret, Arrigoni, Smalling, Jair, Ganea, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Oliver (Ferreira 62), Angerschmid (Zulu 62), G.Boyle
A good performance at home to Newcastle with Greig Boyle ending his goal-less run in the Premier League with a brace
LEAGUE CUP THIRD ROUND
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Cardiff City View attachment 142886
Meret, Arrigoni, Smalling, Jair, Nakagawa, Rossiter, Brown (Grant 64), Cook, Ferreira (Oliver 57), Duelund, G.Boyle
An ok performance but two goals in quick succession from Spurs destroyed our confidence and allowed them to go through to the next round. Mitchell Grant gave us a chance with a wonder goal 19 minutes from time
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester United 2-1 Cardiff City View attachment 142885
Meret, Arrigoni, Smalling, Jair, Ganea, Zielinski, Brown, Green (Rossiter 64), Oliver, Angerschmid (Claudon 64), G.Boyle
An own goal and a rebound from a dodgy penalty beat us against United. Manchester United away is a game where you need a slice of luck to come away with anything. Jair scored an own goal before redeeming himself at the other end
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 142884
A poor month with 3 points from 9 and just 1 win in 3 but some encouraging performances
TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (6 GOALS)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WALES View attachment 142883
A friendly and one qualifier where we need to grab maximum points to have a chance of going through
FRIENDLY
Lithuania 1-1 Wales View attachment 142881
Morris, Gunter, Barlow, Walsh (Chester 76), John, Grant (Evans 76), Ramsey (J.Williams 76), Huws, Cook, James (Lawrence 76), Roberts (Thomas 76)
A very poor game where we should have won but it doesn't really matter. We controlled the game until the latter stages, that might have something to do with the 5 changes. Youngster Nathan Barlow made his debut.
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP 5
Wales 3-1 Azerbaijan View attachment 142878
Darlow, Gunter, Grant, Walsh, Taylor, Ramsey, Allen, Bale, Lawrence, James (Cook 23), Roberts
Karl Darlow came in for Rikki Morris in goal following Morrs' injury. Tyler Roberts grabbed a goal each side of half time which gave us a solid platform to grab the three points
OCTOBER View attachment 142607
A steady start to the season so far, out of the League Cup though
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 2-1 Liverpool View attachment 142605
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Smalling, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 74), Cook, Oliver (Claudon 74), Angerschmid (Ferreira 60), G.Boyle
A poor first half followed by a stellar second with both sides attacking. Oliver grabbed an early goal to put us ahead, Liverpool bounced back and deserved their equaliser only for Rhys Cook, a great scorer of important goals, to pop up with the winner in added time
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Cardiff City View attachment 142603
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Smalling, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Oliver (Werner 77), Angerschmid (Ferreira 45), G.Boyle
Payback! We returned to New White Hart Lane just weeks after they dumped us out of the League Cup and we returned with a vengeance! A pretty even game that was decided by wonderkid Daniel Zielinski, who's made 116 league appearances for us despite being just 20 years old
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 1-0 Aston Villa View attachment 142600
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Smalling, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Grant 71), Brown (Rossiter 84, 90), Green, Oliver, Angerschmid (Ferreira 64), G.Boyle
A pretty tight game until the red card, which we took full advantage of! We scored the winner 2 minutes later, before one of the players I'd brought on to safeguard the win got sent off! Luckily the sending off was in stoppage time but I'll be having words
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Derby County 2-1 Cardiff City View attachment 142589
Meret, Gunter, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Page (Grant 84), Green, Oliver (Ferreira 84), Angerschmid, Werner
We were very poor today, and Derby took full advantage of it, dominating the early proceedings and taking a deserved lead. Timo Werner equalised 17 minutes after they went ahead and I thought that would be the catalyst to allow us to kick ion but we just.. didn't. Derby continued to dominate and grabbed a deserved winner minutes from time
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 142566
Fifth in the league and close to the Champions League spots, I'll take that!
TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (6 GOALS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WALES View attachment 142565
Two big games where 6 points will see us bag a playoff spot, come on!
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP 5
Slovenia 0-2 Wales View attachment 142558
Morris, Pugh, Grant, Walsh, Taylor (Dummett 43), Ramsey (Thompson 81), Allen, Bale, Lawrence, G.Williams (Isgrove 62), Roberts
We probably should have scored a few more goals but 2 is enough to win the game and take Gareth to 34 goals for his country. Youngsters Danny Thompson and Robert Pugh made their debuts
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP 5
Wales 2-1 Scotland View attachment 142552
Morris, Pugh, Grant, Yorwerth, Thompson, Ramsey (King 63), Allen, Bale (Isgrove 63), Lawrence, G.Williams, Roberts
Playoffs confirmed!!! Andy King's last gasp winner was enough to beat Scotland and what a winner it was! We went ahead just before half time after dominating the first half. Scotland, however, had a late resurgence, pushing for an equaliser and one came through Kilmarnock winger Che Adams 6 minutes from time. This put us in a bit of a predicament. This meant we were just 6 points ahead of Scotland, who face Azerbaijan and Slovenia while we play Spain. We needed a goal to guarantee second and pushed forward, finally finding one through Atalanta midfielder Andy King
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 0-0 Nottingham Forest View attachment 142113
Meret,Gunter, Smalling, Jair, Nakagawa, Brown, Zielinski (Grant 57), Green, Oliver (Ferreira 57), Angerschmid, Werner (G.Boyle 79)
A quite disappointing result but its better than a loss
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 1-1 Southampton View attachment 142111
Meret, Gunter, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Brown, Zielinski (Grant 75), Green, Oliver, Angerschmid (Zulu 60), Werner (G.Boyle 75)
A great performance but a hugely disappointing result as we let our lead slip at the end as Slattery scores a worldie to equalise for Southampton
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Norwich City 0-1 Cardiff City View attachment 142109
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Brown (Grant 71), Zielinski, Green, Oliver (Ferreira 58), Angerschmid, Werner (Claudon 71)
That's more like it! A good strike from Daniel Zielinski gave us a second half lead and an important 3 points. Oliver will be out for 4-5 months with a damaged achilles tendon
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 142105
A quite poor month where we should have gained 9 points
TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (8 GOALS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WALES View attachment 142101
A tough game and a freindly await
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP 5 Spain 1-0 Wales View attachment 142100
Morris, Pugh, Yorwerth, Walsh, Davies, Grant, Ramsey, Allen (Cook 76), Bale, G.Williams, Thomas
Paco Alcacer's late goal knocked us out of contention for a World Cup spot. Disappointing to lose it so late
FRIENDLY
Israel 2-2 Wales View attachment 142099
Morris, Richards, Jordan Williams, Walsh, Fox, Allen, Huws, Bale (Ramsey 60), Jonny Williams, G.Williams, Bradshaw (Thomas 36)
A decent game where we deserved the draw. Jonny Williams' late goal getting it for us
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 142098
We missed out on the World Cup on goal difference, desperately close
DECEMBER View attachment 142093
A pretty tough month ahead as we continue our push for European football, points are needed
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 0-1 Burnley View attachment 142092
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 72), Green, Ferreira, Angerschmid, Werner (G.Boyle 72)
Utter domination but no goals as Burnley come away with an undeserved victory. A very disappointing loss
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester City 1-1 Cardiff City View attachment 142091
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 67), Green, Ferreira (G.Boyle 67), Angerschmid, Werner
We got off to the perfect start through Marco Angerschmid's goal but we were put on the back foot almost immediately as Manchester City showed their quality and go a deserved equaliser - albeit through a penalty
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 2-2 Leicester City View attachment 142090
Meret, Gunter, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Ferreira, Angerschmid (G.Boyle 64), Werner
Well, that was a good game! A back and forth battle against Leicester. We went behind early only to rally and score 2 in 2 minutes Unfortunately we didn't build on this and allowed Leicester back in the game, with them levelling through Jack Grealish with 15 minutes to go
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 1-0 Cardiff City View attachment 142088
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Ferreira (Duelund 61), Angerschmid, Werner (G.Boyle 61)
A resolute defensive display meant that we kept it down to 1 goal but unfortunately our attack wasn't as good, registering just 1 shot on target
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 1-0 Everton View attachment 142086
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Tausendpfund 64), Rossiter, Green, Ferreira, Angerschmid (James 64), Werner
Jordan Rossiter's wonder-goal was enough to grab us our first win of a difficult month against an Everton side who are on the up following a poor start to the season
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 142085
We aim to close the gap on United who look like not winning the league for once
EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP STAGE View attachment 142055
A pretty tricky Europa League group despite our pot 1 seeding featuring trips to Denmark, Greece and Slovakia, hopefully we can get through
MATCHDAY 1
FC Kobenhavn 0-3 Cardiff City View attachment 142051
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Ilori, Nakagawa, Page, Grant, P.Boyle (Green 90), Oliver (Ferreira 57), Angerschmid (Zulu 57), G.Boyle
The game I considered to be a pretty tough away game turned out to be a walk in the park as we dismantled Denamrk's second team. 3 goals without reply with the only blotch on the game being Paddy Boyle's late injury
MATCHDAY 2
Cardiff City 5-0 Olympiakos View attachment 142045
Meret, Arrigoni, Jair, Smalling, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Grant 79), Green, Oliver, Ferreira, G.Boyle (Claudon 79)
Easy. This game was so easy, we battered Olympiakos into submission as we thrash them 5-0. Two braces and Nathan Cladon's first goal for the club. Easy.
MATCHDAY 3
Cardiff City 3-1 AS Trencin View attachment 142034
Meret, Arrigoni, Smalling, Jair, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Oliver (G.Boyle 75), Ferreira (Claudon 75), Werner
Trencin were so comically poor I'm genuinely annoyed that we conceded and couldn't score more than 3. Ferreira grabbed his first goal for the club
MATCHDAY 4
AS Trencin 0-5 Cardiff City View attachment 142029
Meret, Gunter, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Grant 45), Green, Oliver, Angerschmid, Werner
We visited Slovakia and left with 3 points and and extra 5 on our Goal Difference. This has been unbelivably easy for us and we are cruising through the group
MATCHDAY 5
Cardiff City 3-1 FC Kobenhavn View attachment 142025
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 67), Green, Oliver, Angerschmid (Ferreira 67), Werner (G.Boyle 52)
Another top quality performance as we dismantle the Danes. They scored their only shot on target of the match to make it 2-1 only for us to go up the other end, get a penalty and regain our 2 goal advantage. Easy.
MATCHDAY 6
Olympiakos 1-2 Cardiff City View attachment 142010
Meret, Gunter, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 65), Green, Ferriera, Angerschmid (Claudon 65), Werner
Our poorest performance of our Europa League campaign and we still dominate, racking up 26 shots away in Greece and scoring just 2 of them
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 142009
A very confident campaign as we progress with a 100% record, 21 goals scored and just 3 conceded
Cardiff City have continued their selling spree from the summer into the winter transfer window as their total sales reach £164m
The Welsh club have sold three players, all of whom leaving for shockingly high figures
First to leave the Cardiff City Stadium was 25 year old German striker, Timo Werner, who has joined Arsenal for £38m
Werner never set the world alight at Cardiff City, scoring just 7 league gals in 28 league appearances for the Bluebirds
Werner, who won the FA Cup with Cardiff following a £12.5m move from Juventus, also garnered interest from Manchester United before joining the Gunners
The 25 year old has cost a total of £83m throughout his career, despite scoring just 67 goals in 230 appearances in league fixtures
Second to leave the Welsh capital was Ivorian midfielder Fabrice Soumahoro, who has joined Leeds United for £6m
Soumahoro, 22, joined the Bluebirds for £130,000 back in 2017 before spending time out on loan at Halmstads BK, Queens Park Rangers and Dynamo Kyiv
He has 30 caps for the Ivory Coast and lifted the African Cup of Nations with them in 2021
Lst but not least to leave the Bluebirds permanently was Nigerian international Tiago Ilori, who has joined French club LOSC Lille for £3m
Ilori, 28, made 163 appearances for the Bluebirds over a period of 7 years. Having 2 loan spells with the club in 2015/16 and 2016/17 before signing permanently on a free transfer back in 2017/18 ahead of their first season back in the top flight
London-born Ilori, who has 56 caps for Nigeria, lifted the Sky Bet Championship, the Europa League, the European Super Cup and the FA Cup with the Bluebirds and will be sorely missed
Others left on loan, here is the full list: [TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mikkel Duelund[/TD]
[TD]Olympiakos[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Olger Gamboa[/TD]
[TD]St.Johnstone[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Laercio[/TD]
[TD]Nottingham Forest[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jonathan Kelly[/TD]
[TD]Halmstads BK[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mark Harris[/TD]
[TD]Chesterfield[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Stuart Knight[/TD]
[TD]Peterborough United[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Cardiff City have today announced two loan signings, with many saying that this will be all the Bluebirds do in January
Manager Matthew Hawkins is known for not being shy in signing players in January, with notable wintertime purchases luke Riechedly Bazoer, Timo Werner and Diego Poyet in recent seasons, but it is believed Hawkins is happy with his squad, hence the lack of permanent signings
First to join the Bluebrids was 25 year old Croatian midfielder, Alen Halilovic, who has joined on loan from Manchester City until the end of the season
Halilovic, who has been capped 69 times by his country, has been brought in to plug the gap left by Spanish attacking midfielder Oliver, who has been sidelined with an Achilles injury since late November
The Bluebirds have been lacking attacking verve since then and it is hoped that the Croatian star can provide it
The 25 year old has had a troubled career since leaving his native Croatia for Barcelona back in 2014, with Cardiff being his seventh club since Barcelona bought him from Dinamo Zagreb for £1.8m
Halilovic has commanded huge fees throughout his career, with PSG paying £25.5m for his services before shipping him off to Manchester City for £23.5m after just 14 league appearances View attachment 141710
The second player to join the Bluebirds was Russian right-back Mikhail Tikhonov, who has signed on loan from Real Madrid until the end of the season
The Russian defender, 20, has 22 caps for his country and can play both right-back and right wing-back, making him a valuable option to have on the right hand side
It is believed that he has been brought in to plug the gap left by Daniele Arrigoni, who has been missing since late October with knee tendonitis
Tikhonov, who broke onto the scene in 2018 with CSKA Moscow, joined Real Madrid for £5.25m in this season's summer window after impressing in his 45 league games for The Army Men View attachment 141703
JANUARY View attachment 141547
2022 starts now, we have the FA Cup and some big league games
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 2-0 Crystal Palace View attachment 141541
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Rossiter (Tausendpfund 63), Green, Ferreira (James 71), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
Former Swansea City goalkeeper Ben Garratt scored an own goal (to huge laughter and cheers) to set us on our way. We dominated after the break and soon doubled our lead through Jordan Rossiter who scored a wonder goal 14 minutes into the second half
FA CUP THIRD ROUND
Stevenage 2-4 Cardiff City View attachment 141533
Kyle, Gunter, Smalling, Tausendpfund, Nakagawa, Soumahoro, Grant, P.Boyle, James, Zulu, Diba
A hugely rotated side put Stevenage to the sword as we ran riot as Broadhall Way. Stevenage scored 2 in the second half to make it 3-2 only for Paddy Boyle to bag his second goal of the game and put it beyond doubt. The Northern Irishman put forward a strong case for first team football today with 2 goals and 2 assists
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Leeds United 3-1 Cardiff City View attachment 141528
Meret, Gunter, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Ferreira (James 66), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
I don't quite know how we managed to concede 3 today. Leeds got off to a perfect start through an early goal but Andre Green pegged them back soon after, we looked more likely to get a goal at this point only for Leeds to regain their lead through David Faupala in the 35th minute, Reece Burke then somehow managed to put a tame cross into his own goal to wrap it up for Leeds
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 3-0 Chelsea View attachment 141524
Meret, Smalling, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Grant 72), Brown, Green (P.Boyle 68), Halilovic, Angerschmid, G.Boyle
Well that's one way to respond! We battered Chelsea and fully deserved our 3 goal victory with Greig Boyle, Marco Angerschmid and Alen Halilovic all scoring a Match Rating of 9.0, it was an incredible performance offensively and defensively and we fully deserved the win
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Stoke City 2-3 Cardiff City View attachment 141523
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Tausendpfund 58), Brown, Green, Halilovic (James 58), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
We cruised past Stoke for 88 minutes, with the only minutes where we struggled being the 69th and 70th minutes. Boyle continued his good form and Andre Green seems to have finally got going this season
FA CUP FOURTH ROUND
Cardiff City 3-0 Crystal Palace View attachment 141522
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 65), Green (P.Boyle 65), James, Angerschmid, G.Boyle
Another dominant performance as we cruise into the Fifth Round of the FA Cup. Greig Bole keeps his scoring run going and Marco Angerschmid chipped in with a late third goal
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 141521
A very good month with 5 victories and 1 loss, as well as progression in the FA Cup
FEBRUARY View attachment 141457
A good month last month, more of the same please
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 1-0 Watford View attachment 141455
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Rossiter 76), Brown, Green (P.Boyle 55), Halilovic, Angerschmid, G.Boyle
A tale of two penalties! A pretty poor game in truth with just 2 proper chances, fortunately we took ours while Watford didn't take theirs! Ex Swansea City striker Fabio Borini fluffed his lines from the spot while Scottish international striker Greig Boyle scored his spotkick
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Newcastle United 2-1 Cardiff City View attachment 141454
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Green, Ferreira, Angerschmid, G.Boyle
A poor performance on Tyneside added to our poor result as we failed to capitalise on some good form, allowing the Magpies' creative players too much room and they punished us
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 0-0 Manchester United View attachment 141453
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 82), Green, Ferreira (Halilovic 82), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
We deserved to win this chance, with our forwards spurning many chances but I'm happy to get a point against United (Who look on course to make it 6 in a row)
EUROPA LEAGUE FIRST KNOCKOUT ROUND 1ST LEG Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Cardiff City View attachment 141452
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Rossiter, Green (P.Boyle 66), Ferreira (Halilovic 66), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
Two long shots, two goals. I have no idea how we managed to lose this one 2-0, but we did and now we have it all to do in the second leg
FA CUP FIFTH ROUND
Cardiff City 1-0 Reading View attachment 141450
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Tausendpfund 80), Brown, Green (P.Boyle 80), Ferreira, Angerschmid, G.Boyle (Claudon 80)
A poor performance but it was enough to get us through as we squeeze past Reading and into the next round, Ferreira dug us out of a hole with his goal
EUROPA LEAGUE FIRST KNOCKOUT ROUND 2ND LEG Cardiff City 2-0 Shakhtar Donetsk Cardiff win 5-3 on penalties View attachment 141448
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Rossiter 83), Brown, Halilovic, Ferreira (Green 74), Angerschmid (Claudon 116), G.Boyle
Marco Angerschmid!!!! The German winger struck twice today to pull us level against Shakhtar and he did it in the most dramatic fashion, scoring with almost the last kick of normal time to take us into Extra Time. We shouldn't have needed penalties or extra time as we run Shakhtar ragged, with us having 37 shots to their 5. We will face Bordeaux in the next round
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 141440
W keep chasing the Champions League spots and will have to keep winning and hope Spurs slip up
MARCH View attachment 140954
A couple of big league games and a Europa League clash as we reach the business end of the season
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 3-1 Tottenham Hotspur View attachment 140953
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Tausendpfund 87), Halilovic, Ferreira (P.Boyle 60), Green, G.Boyle (Claudon 70)
A top class performance from Alen Halilovic put us on our way to a deserved 3 points over our rivals for fourth, Tottenham Hotspur. The Croatian had 3 assists, playing an integral role on the right wing and putting Spurs to the sword in a world class display
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Aston Villa 1-4 Cardiff City View attachment 140949
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair 46, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 87), Halilovic (P.Boyle 73), Ferreira (Smalling 46), Green, Diba
Villa took an early lead through ex-Bluebirds Connor Wickham, but we rallied and our close shone through as we took the lead before the break. Unfortunately Jair had a moment of madness straight after half-time and threw a spanner in the works by getting sent off, we changed our shape and sat back and hit them on the counter which benefited stand in striker Fresnel Diba as he scored 2 more to complete his first ever professional hat-trick
EUROPA LEAGUE SECOND KNOCKOUT ROUND 1ST LEG Girondins de Bordeaux 1-3 Cardiff City View attachment 140948
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Halilovic, Ferreira (Green 57), Angerschmid (James 66), G.Boyle
We suffered a fairly early setback as Bordeaux took the lead but we bounced back straight away through Greig Boyle. We took control of the game after this and Boyle benefited, adding 2 more goals to his tally before the end of the game
FA CUP SIXTH ROUND
Cardiff City 2-1 Southend United View attachment 140947
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Tausendpfund 68), Green, Ferreira, Angerschmid (P.Boyle 68), Diba
The scoreline flattered Southend, they barely threatened and scored their only shot on target (They only had 2 shots all game!). We should have scored more but it just wasn't to be, as evidenced by Andre Green's penalty miss
EUROPA LEAGUE SECOND KNOCKOUT ROUND 2ND LEG
Cardiff City 5-1 Girondins de Bordeaux
Cardiff win 8-2 on aggregate View attachment 140946
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Halilovic, Ferreira (James 78), Angerschmid (Green 41, 83), G.Boyle (Claudon 67)
A comprehensive victory over Bordeaux as we march on into the next round. This victory is a huge statement of intent going into the closing stages of the Europa League. Alen Halilovic underlined his worth to the team with a hat-trick and Man of the Match display. Marco Angerschmid and Andre Green will be out for 4 weeks
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Cardiff City View attachment 140943
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, P.Boyle, Halilovic, Ferreira, G.Boyle
A disappointing draw and performance away to Forest, we probably deserved the victory with our performance as Forest didn't threaten much, unfortunately we just lacked creativity and spark
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 0-2 Derby County View attachment 140931
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Halilovic, James, Ferreira, G.Boyle
Hugely disappointing. Derby had 2 shots on target. 2. They both went in! We had 11 on target, couldn't score, this is madness!
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 140929
It looks ok, but I feel that the results against Derby and Forest could cost us in our hunt for fourth place
TOP SCORER: GREIG BOYLE (18 GOALS)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WALES View attachment 140925
Just the one game, a friendly at home to Jamaica
FRIENDLY
Wales 1-3 Jamaica View attachment 140924
Morris, Gunter, Barlow (Chester 45), Giggs, John (Thompson 45), Ramsey (Allen 45), Grant, Bale, J.Williams (Al-Wadi 69), G.Williams (Cook 45), Greening (Thomas 46)
A very young team, disappointing to lose but its important for their experience. That was Tom Giggs and Aaron Greening's debuts, Nathan Barlow's second cap and Declan John's 5th. Only 3 of our starters had more than 25 caps.
APRIL View attachment 140918
Premier League, Europa League and the FA Cup! How exciting!
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Southampton 0-3 Cardiff City View attachment 140917
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Rossiter 76), Brown, P.Boyle, Halilovic (James 63), Ferreira, G.Boyle
A tight game according to stats, but Southampton just didn't create anything, and were pretty woeful at defending the chances we created! Greig Boyle scored two goals in quick succession which effectively ended the Saints' spirit, allowing us to relax throughout the rest of the game.
EUROPA LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL 1ST LEG Cardiff City 2-0 Liverpool View attachment 140916
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown (Rossiter 62), Halilovic, James, Ferreira (P.Boyle 62), G.Boyle
A very impressive performance from us as we dominated proceedings at home to Liverpool, not allowing them a shot on target. We created much more and were good value for our 2-0 win, probably deserving another few goals
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 1-0 Norwich City View attachment 140915
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Rossiter 72), Brown, P.Boyle, Halilovic, Ferreira (James 62), G.Boyle
Not a game for the ages but we got the job done and bagged the three points which keep us on Spurs' heels
EUROPA LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL 2ND LEG Liverpool 3-1 Cardiff City Cardiff win on Away Goals View attachment 140914
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair 23, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, Halilovic (P.Boyle 86), Ferreira (Rossiter 23), Zulu, G.Boyle
Injuries and suspensions forced us into playing a pretty weak team, especially in the final third as we missed Oliver, Green and Angerschmid. We had no centre backs on the bench so I was really hoping that Jair and Burke would keep their heads... Burke did. Jair was a silly boy, sent off 23 minutes in. The floodgates opened soon after as Liverpool scored three before half-time. I decided to go at Liverpool in the second half and we did just that, forcing a mistake 6 minutes in, we held strong for the rest of the game and somehow got through
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Burnley 1-1 Cardiff City View attachment 140913
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Ferreira 68), Brown, Halilovic (P.Boyle 61), Oliver, Angerschmid, G.Boyle (Diba 77)
A pretty drab affair, especially compared to our incredible game at Anfield. We conceded fairly early but we managed to rally and equalise through Greig Boyle before half time. Nothing much happened in the second half
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Liverpool 2-3 Cardiff City View attachment 140909
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, P.Boyle, Halilovic (Oliver 74), Angerschmid (Ferreira 68), G.Boyle
We returned to Anfield and played incredibly well once again, racing into a 2-0 lead before half-time. Unfortunately attacking midfielder Gareth Pritchard (Eligible for Wales, keeps rejecting my call ups) got one back before half-time which spurred Liverpool on in the second half. We held on for a while but the pressure became too much, fortunately we then rallies and hit back, with Greig Boyle scoring the winner
FA CUP SEMI-FINAL
Chelsea 3-0 Cardiff City View attachment 140908
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski, Brown, P.Boyle (Green 64), Oliver, Angerschmid, G.Boyle (Ferreira 71)
A tight match but Chelsea were just too clinical, scoring half of their shots on target, including a penalty conceded by Reece Burke (Who scored a Match Rating of 5.1). Quite poor and daunting ahead of our Europa League Semi-Final against them
EUROPA LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL 1ST LEG Chelsea 2-0 Cardiff City View attachment 140907
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Zielinski (Rossiter 31), Brown, P.Boyle, Halilovic, Angerschmid (Ferreira 72), G.Boyle
We were annihalated here and didn't even get a sniff as Chelsea ran riot. We held on for 75 minutes but former man Dusan Perovic scored to put Chelsea on their way. We need a miracle in the second leg. Zielinski is out for the rest of the season
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Everton 1-2 Cardiff City View attachment 140906
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa (Ganea 66), Rossiter, Page, Halilovic (P.Boyle 66), Oliver, Angerschmid, Diba
A nice way to bounce back following 2 demoralising defeats. Fresnel Diba opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season and we cruised until Everton's shock goal in the 75th minute. We regained our composure and Marco Angerschmid bagged yet another important goal, and to think we signed him on a free...
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 140904
4 points off Spurs with 3 games left, stranger things have happened....
MAY View attachment 140658
The final month of the season includes a Europa League Semi Final and a race for Europe, come on!
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Cardiff City 0-0 Manchester City View attachment 140655
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Ganea, Grant, Rossiter (Oliver 73), Green, James, Angerschmid (Ferreira 61), G.Boyle (Carlos 80)
We rode our luck at times here as Manchester City dominated but we held firm and denied them time and again, bagging a point that we needed to keep the heat up on Spurs
EUROPA LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL 2ND LEG
Cardiff City 4-1 Chelsea
Cardiff win 4-3 on aggregate View attachment 140654
Meret, Tikhonov, Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Rossiter (Page 72), Brown, Green, Halilovic (P.Boyle 85), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
I said we needed a miracle and we produced one! We played Chelsea off the park and utterly dominated them (Why couldn't we do this in the FA Cup and First leg?). Marco Angerschmid gave us the perfect start early on and b the 18th minute, all of Chelsea's work in the First Leg had been destroyed. Greig Boyle put us in the lead early in the second half and he completed his hat-trick by beating three Chelsea defenders and slamming the ball past Courtois in the dying embers of the game. Fantastic.
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE Cardiff City 3-0 Arsenal View attachment 140651
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Grant, Rossiter, Halilovic (Green 59), Oliver, Angerschmid (Ferreira 74), G.Boyle
Can anyone stop us? We've hit form just at the right time as we dismantle Arsenal at the Cardiff City Stadium. We've racked up quite the record at home this season, winning 12 and losing just 2 of our 19 home games in the league this season. Greig Boyle added 2 more goals to his tally, his second coming after his penalty hit the post, only for Oliver to whip the ball back across goal for Boyle to score a tap-in. Wonderful stuff.
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Leicester City 1-4 Cardiff City View attachment 140649
Meret, Tikhonov, Smalling, Burke, Nakagawa, Rossiter, Brown (James 82), Halilovic, Oliver (P.Boyle 62), Angerschmid, G.Boyle (Diba 82)
We needed a win here to guarantee Champions League football for next season and a win we got! Isco's goal in the 64th minute set the cat amongst the pidgeons but we displayed a mental strength that has become a hallmark of our campaign as we bounced back immediately through Paddy Boyle. We continued attacking and we got our reward as we scored two quickfire goals to destroy Leicester's spirit and win us the match. Alen Halilovic's late penalty was his first (and last) league goal for us and put the cherry on the cake
EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL
Paris Saint-Germain 1-2 Cardiff City View attachment 140640
Meret, Tikhonov (Gunter 90), Jair, Burke, Nakagawa, Rossiter, Brown (Grant 90), P.Boyle, Halilovic (James 61), Angerschmid, G.Boyle
We dominated from the off and raced into an early two goal lead, testing PSG goalkeeper Matthew Ryan at eery opportunity. PSG came at us in the second half and forced a goal through ex-Barca wonderkid Bana Senaya but luckily we defended well and repelled the waves of PSG attacks and lifted our second Europa League in 3 years
LEAGUE TABLE View attachment 140637
We did it! We qualified for Champions League as we pipped Spurs for 4th. Spurs bottled it at the end of the season and we took full advantage
END OF SEASON 2021/22 View attachment 140350
A very good season despite the sale of stars such as Dusan Perovic, Riechedly Bazoer and Timo Werner, we can be proud of ourselves
View attachment 140348
A very good season both domestically and in Europe, we used the most players out of all the teams in the league this season, a testament to our squad depth
View attachment 140347
Daniel Zielinski ran away with the vote for Fans' Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season despite missing the end of the season due to injury, David Brown bagged himself Goal of the Season with his winner in the Europa League final whilst loanee Alen Halilovic won Singing of the Season
View attachment 140342
Scottish sensation Greig Boyle won Top Goalscorer with 30 goals, Daniel Zielinski had the most assists with 13, he also had the highest Average Rating with 7.62 across 51 appearances, Andre Green had the most Man of the Match awards with 6 but didn't turn up often enough for my liking
View attachment 140339
Both Jair and Daneil Zielinski earned themselves a spot in the Premier League Team of the Year with their impressive performances
Europa League holders Cardiff City have smashed their transfer record for the second time in two seasons, spending £33.5m on Czech full-back David Krejci
Krejci, 20, has joined the Bluebirds from fellow Premier League club Leicester City, with whom he made his name after signing from Czech side Zlin back in 2018 for a fee of £1.2m
Krejci, who became an icon at the King Power Stadium, struggled at first, spending time out on loan at Norwich City and S.S. Lazio before finding a place in the Foxes' starting line up
The full-back, often described as a "Wonderkid", made 61 league appearances for Leicester. He also made his debut for the Czech Republic whilst at the club
The 20 year old has gone on to make 32 appearances for his country, scoring 5 goals View attachment 140251
Cardiff City have splashed the cash, signing a trio of wonderkids for a combined fee of £55.75m
First to join the Bluebirds was Gareth Pritchard who has joined Cardiff for a fee of £23m from Liverpool
Pritchard, 20, is an attacking midfielder who was highly valued on Merseyside, with many sad to see the youngster go after an impressive breakout season last time out
England Under 19 international Pritchard also qualifies for Wales, he is seen by many as the natural successor to Oliver at Cardiff View attachment 140231
Second to join was 19 year old Chile international Alfredo Martinez, who has joined from German side Borrusia Monchengladbach for a fee of £15m
Martinez, described by German press as a "Wonderkid", started his career with Chilean side Colo Colo, before moving to Germany for £4.7m at the age of 18.
He made 49 appearances in the Bundesliga over a season and a half. He scored 10 goals and 8 assists last season as he helped Monchengladbach to a respectable 4th place finish, finishing within a point of Champions League qualification View attachment 140229
Last to join the Bluebirds was Serbian central defender Dragan Ilic, 19, who has joined from Italian club Napoli for £17.75m
Ilic, who has made 8 appearances for his country, spent a solitary season in Naples, having joined from Cypriot side Asteras Tripolis for £4.9m in January 2022
Ilic, who was produced by Serbian side Radnicki, made his name in Cyprus after being snapped up for just £350,000 after two impressive seasons with the Serbian side where he made 38 league appearances
Cardiff City have continued their "Youth First" policy into this transfer window, signing 6 youngsters on long term deals, spending big on some of Europe's brightest prospects
First to join the Bluebirds was 17 year old central defender Greg Dale, who has joined from recently relegated Everton for £9m
The Birkenhead born defender, who attracted the interest of some of Europe's biggest clubs, has been sent out on loan to Conference side Torquay United until the end of the season to continue his development View attachment 140002
Second through the door was Iliais Kosmidis, who has joined from Greek Superleague side Iraklis Salonika 1908 for a fee of £6.25m
Kosmidis, another one who attracted the interest of some huge clubs, is an attacking midfielder and has joined Cardiff's affiliate club, Croatian side Hajduk Split, on loan until the end of the season View attachment 139999
Third to sign was Dutch winger Michael de Rooij, who joined the Bluebirds for a fee of £4.2m from FC Groningen
The 17 year old, who has often been deployed as an inside forward on the left hand side, is dubbed one of the Netherland's biggest hopes for the future View attachment 139998
The fourth of this crop of youngsters to sign was 17 year old Andrea Gerbino Polo
Polo, an Italian central midfielder, has joined the Bluebirds from Carpi for £5m and has been sent back to Carpi on loan until the end of the season View attachment 139996
The fifth signing was that of Egyptian wonderkid Mohamed Ali, who has joined from Egyptian giant Zamalek for £100,000
The central defender, who's made 5 appearances for his country, has gone to Italian side Torino on loan until the end of the season in the hope that he will gain a work permit View attachment 139994
The final player to join was from a lot closer to home, 17 year old midfielder Kyle Beeley, who has joined from Blackburn Rovers for £350,000
Beeley, who hasn't played for England at any level, has been sent to Northampton Town until the end of the season to continue his development View attachment 139993