Cardiff City player destined for January exit now forcing transfer U-turn
Cardiff City are preparing for their most important transfer window for some time. The Bluebirds need a big month if they are to turn this campaign on its head, with half a season still left to play.
Despite Sunday's impressive 2-1 win over Watford, Omer Riza's side find themselves firmly in the midst of a relegation battle. Were it not for that unbeaten six-game spell under Riza, Cardiff's fate would almost certainly have been sealed already.
But a new year will bring new optimism, Cardiff will hope, and there's still plenty of football to be played. And one player hoping to play a lot more will be Cian Ashford.
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It's been a trying season for Ashford, who burst on to the scene proper last term and enjoyed his moment in the limelight back in April with a stunning winner to down Southampton at Cardiff City Stadium. His performances encouraged Erol Bulut to keep the forward around, believing he had something to offer this season.
The 20-year-old has largely been tasked with coming off the bench in a struggling side and has found it difficult to impact games, like so many of his team-mates, for that matter. These past few dreadful seasons have hardly been conducive for coaxing through young talent.
But amid the gloom — the win at Vicarage Road ended a nine-match winless run — the top talents shine and recent displays from the young Ashford have offered some optimism. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
His short but bright cameo off the bench in the 2-0 home defeat by Sheffield United caught the eye and he built on that with an impressive outing at the Kassam Stadium. He latched on to fellow academy graduate Ronan Kpakio's cross before coolly taking a touch and burying it into the bottom corner for his first senior goal of the campaign.
Against the Hornets, though, Ashford, who was afforded his first league start of the season, turned out the best of his 12 Championship appearances to date by a distance.
Ashford gave Watford left-back Yasser Larouci nightmares all afternoon, causing problems in attack but, importantly, he was resolute and strong running back towards his own goal, too. He helped Andy Rinomhota out on a number of occasions.
The maturity and calmness he displayed when he got on the end of Chris Willock's incisive pass for Cardiff's second was also indicative of how much the Wales youth international has matured in recent months. He could quite easily have taken the shot on himself, but instead slid in the right ball to Callum Robinson, who slotted home his second of the afternoon into an empty net to restore the visitors' lead.
Ashford now has four goal involvements in his 12 Championship games and two in as many outings. OK, he wasn't perfect, he missed a gilt-edged chance when his attempted volley from close range became an air shot and it's debatable as to whether he could have done more for Giorgio Chakvetadze's goal at the other end. But there is real raw talent there and it's a talent many at the club have been excited about for years.
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Earlier this month, manager Riza had earmarked Ashford for a loan move away. "Potentially Cian could go out on loan. I think he needs a loan to set him up to come back in at the start of next season to really have a go at it," Riza said a fortnight ago. "That's not definite, but he is one of those players who could do with that."
Ashford has a real engine, is more physical than maybe he is given credit for and certainly knows where the goal is. It's anyone's guess what this Cardiff squad looks like when the window closes at the beginning of February, but an increasing number of supporters would like to see Ashford still involved.
“We’ve got a lot of belief in Ash (Ashford)," Riza said after the win on Sunday. "He’s a young lad, he needs to believe in himself a little bit more, because he can cause problems and he’s done that today. I had no hesitations in putting him in there.
“We gave the ownership to Ash and he held the ball up well, he was strong, he was aggressive, he worked hard and that’s what we need at this time.”
After such a standout performance, that shirt is likely now his to lose. And he might just be slowly forcing the club into a little rethink in the new year.
