£500k Cardiff City player tipped for exit - 'he never really got going' | OneFootball

Football League World's resident Cardiff City fan pundit discussed Kion Etete's future in the Welsh capital

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Cardiff City are now blessed with a plethora of high-standard striking options as they bid to gain promotion back from League One to the Championship at the very first time of asking under head coach Brian Barry-Murphy following a strong start to the 2025/26 campaign.

The Bluebirds are positioned third in the league standings ahead of Saturday afternoon's home clash against lowly Reading, where a second successive victory could fire them back to the top of the table dependent on results elsewhere. It has been a largely encouraging start to life back in English football's third-tier for the first time since 2003, with a litany of homegrown academy products flourishing on Barry-Murphy's watch.

The Irishman, who has emphasised flipping the dressing room on its head and promoting young talents to key roles, has an extremely gifted League One squad at his disposal, one which is capable of going all the way this season. Competition is perhaps at its fiercest at the tip of the spear, with Yousef Salech, Callum Robinson and Isaak Davies — the latter having been fielded out wide for the most part — all vying for a starting striking berth.

With a number of impressive options to summon, Cardiff decided to sanction yet another temporary exit for Kion Etete, who struggled for both form and fitness during the second-half of the previous campaign at Bolton Wanderers before joining League One rivals Rotherham United on loan.

Etete is now in his fourth season under contract at Cardiff, though one would suspect it may be his last.

The imposing striker moved to South Wales from Tottenham Hotspur in a reported £500,000 deal back in the summer of 2022, but has been impacted by persistent injury setbacks and, it must be said, incessant managerial churn throughout his Bluebirds career.

Many would also concur that Etete has failed to lay down his marker when fully fit, either, with the 23-year-old posting just nine goals from 63 appearances, all but one of which came in his opening two seasons with the club. His move to Rotherham, then, appeared to represent something of a last-chance saloon for the former Cheltenham and Northampton Town loanee to establish himself at Cardiff, but the same old story has played out once more.

Etete is yet to find the back of the net from nine appearances for the third-tier strugglers, and had already endured groin and knee issues before being struck down by a "serious" injury in training, with the actual identity and extent of the injury remaining unclear for now.

What is more clear, however, is that the forward is poised to spend significant time restricted to the sidelines yet again, and faces an even stiffer test in salvaging a career back with his parent club.

Kion Etete tipped for permanent Cardiff City exit amid Rotherham United struggles

Football League World asked our resident Bluebirds fan pundit, Matt Hall, whether he envisages any possible future for Etete at Cardiff after his latest injury setback, or if a permanent exit in the not-too-distant future represents something of an inevitability owing to the frontman's struggles in recent years and the increased competition in City's striking department.

In Matt's view, however, the writing was on the wall for Etete's Cardiff career regardless of injury, and he does not expect to see him in a Bluebirds shirt again. Matt reflected on Etete's mixed time with the Bluebirds, admitting early signs of encouragement towards the back-end of his debut season under Sabri Lamouchi.

But Matt ultimately believes that Etete has failed to grasp opportunities when afforded to him, and is cautious about how the former Spurs player's career could play out amid such unfortunate luck on the injury front.

"I think regardless of a new fresh injury, the writing was on the wall for Kion Etete," Matt told FLW.

"I would be very surprised if we ever saw him in a Cardiff shirt again. I think, really, he's had his chances and there were a few periods when he first signed for us and we hadn't signed Callum Robinson and our only other striker was Max Watters, he probably should've stepped up then.

"Obviously he was young back then, we understood it.

"In his second season, Erol Bulut came in. Robinson was no longer seen as a striker and his striking competition was Ike Ugbo, who was out of favour at times, and Yakou Meite — although I'm not really sure whether he was ever seen as a striker. So he had a run of games where he started doing alright, but he just fell off really.

"He never really got going. He did have a really good spell under Sabri Lamouchi but then he got injured, and I suppose this is the sign of where his career is going that I don't know if he's actually done anything for Rotherham.

"But it appears that whenever he tries he gets injured, so I'm not sure whether he'll make it in the Football League, let alone at Cardiff City."

Kion Etete's surprising Cardiff City situation amid transfer exit prediction

Supporters were left with surprise when, upon confirming Etete's temporary switch to Steven Schumacher's Bolton back in January, Cardiff also announced that the striker had put pen to paper on a new contract running until the summer of 2027.

Etete had agreed a three-year contract to join the club from Spurs, and that was due to expire in the summer just gone. However, his wretched injury luck and consistent struggle to establish himself as a goalscoring force in the Championship meant that fans understandably questioned the decision to hand him a fresh two-and-a-half year contract, with a shorter deal — if one at all — expected instead, with Etete having only featured on one occasion all season before linking up with the Trotters.

Should Etete see out the full duration of his loan at Rotherham, which potentially hangs very much in the balance at this stage, he will return to Cardiff with a year to run on his contract next summer.

However, it seems implausible that he will see out that deal in its entirety, especially if Cardiff gain promotion back to the Championship this term.