Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Sunday, July 14.
Bid lodged for McGuinness
A bid has been lodged to sign Cardiff centre-back Mark McGuinness, WalesOnline has learned.
Last season Erol Bulut said McGuinness, along with Rubin Colwill, Perry Ng and Ryan Wintle, was among the most valuable assets at Cardiff, given his performances across the past two seasons and that he is still only 23 years of age.
McGuinness spent much of the second half of the season injured last year, which was a blow for Cardiff, given how well he had performed up until that point.
But it was a matter of time before clubs took a look at the former Republic of Ireland youth international. And we are told there is interest from several club but one unnamed side, as yet, has tabled a seven-figure bid.
Cardiff today announced the signing of Calum Chambers as a free agent, however the Bluebirds were keen to bolster at centre-back before any potential sale of an existing player within the squad. If a club did meet Cardiff’s valuation, then they would likely have to assess their next move.
READ MORE: Cardiff City announce signing of Calum Chambers as he reveals reason behind his decision
READ MORE: Erol Bulut hints at new Aaron Ramsey role and issues Cardiff City transfer update
Willock debut will have to wait
Erol Bulut has said fans will have to wait a little while to see their first summer signing in action.
Cardiff signed Chris Willock on Friday, before announcing the capture of Calum Chambers today, however there was no sign of the former QPR man in the win over Kortrijk yesterday.
And Bulut explained that he would be patient with Willock, having to integrate him into the squad an first-team training before he takes part in any of the remaining pre-season games.
“I think Tuesday will be too early for him. He needs some sessions. How I know, he was training individually in London, but that’s different to team training,” Bulut said of the winger.
“I think we can talk after 10 days when he is in better shape. One against one situations he is really good and this is what we need. Last season we didn’t have it so much.
“Then, scoring goals, this is what we are expecting from him this season.”
Colwill: I want to add goals
Rubin Colwill says he wants to add more goals this season to take his game to the next level.
The Cardiff and Wales playmaker had an impressive campaign last season but perhaps didn’t find the back of the net regularly enough, scoring just three times in all competitions.
But he found the net in the 3-1 win over KV Kortrijk yesterday and fans will hope that’s a sign of things to come this season.
“I try my best every day to improve and I’ll see where that takes me,” he said after the match. “I think sometimes, you can get caught up in things, so I just try to focus on the day to day. Hopefully the good things will come.
“Something I’m really working on in my game is that goalscoring element. I think last season, if I’d added that to my game it would have been a really good year. I think I did pretty well, but it’s that little final bit I needed to add.
“I still need to work on it. But I’m still working on when to shoot and when to pass, but I got my goal (against Kortrijk), so I’m pretty happy with that.”
Colwill had to work his way into the starting XI at the beginning of the season, with Erol Bulut wanting more out of him defensively. And the manager believes there is still work to do for the 22-year-old.
“Last season he had a really good season. It’s also important for him to be fit for the whole season and he still has to work on his issues,” Bulut said. “He still does the same mistakes he did last season. He still wants to be everywhere. He has to control the position so he can be where we want to have him.
“If you are young and have power, you want to run everywhere, but you have to control it and when he controls it better he will be better for the team.”
Colwill’s younger brother, Joel, has also put in a couple of decent performances in pre-season so far. Rubin said of his 19-year-old sibling: “He’s a really good lad, he works really hard and today, he slotted in and I thought he was one of our better players. He is a really good player and a really bright future ahead if he works hard.
“I’m enjoying playing with him at the minute. He’s a good player and he’s doing really well.”
Lamouchi new Al-Riyadh boss
Former Cardiff manager Sabri Lamouchi has been made the new boss of Al-Riyadh.
Lamouchi took over in January 2023 and helped to steer Cardiff to Championship safety, after falling perilously close to a potentially ruinous drop to the third tier.
However, the club decided to go in a different direction at the end of the season and appointed Erol Bulut as manager. Lamouchi has been out of work since, but has now been named the new boss of Al-Riyadh, who finished 14th in last season’s Roshn Saudi League.