Cardiff City should repeat Chelsea transfer trick in January - Enzo Maresca factor could be key | OneFootball

Cardiff City utilised the relationship between Brian Barry-Murphy and Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca to sign Omari Kellyman - it can be repeated in January

Cardiff City will head into the ever-approaching January transfer window in the knowledge that further reinforcements to Brian Barry-Murphy's squad are required in order to clinch promotion back to the Championship come May.

That is despite the Bluebirds finding themselves positioned atop the League One table after 15 matches, nine of which have resulted in victory, with Barry-Murphy's side emerging among the chief contenders for promotion.

Cardiff's campaign, however, has not been entirely plain-sailing, and inconsistencies within both performances and results - which are, of course, entirely natural with the division's youngest squad - have exposed some of the promotion hopeful's flaws following a formidable start to the season. Barry-Murphy, then, will hope to rectify those in January.

The Irishman, appointed in the summer to lead Cardiff's pursuit of a swift second-tier return after suffering relegation, opted against conducting a complete squad rebuild and welcoming an influx of fresh faces to the Welsh capital.

City's rebuild, rather, has consisted of shifting high-earning, and ultimately disappointing, players of old to make way for the wealth of talent continually emerging from the club's youth set-up in recent years, which is ultimately why the likes of Dylan Lawlor and Ronan Kpakio have quickly become two of the most promising youngsters in the entire EFL and just three new signings were made all summer in loanees Omari Kellyman and Nathan Trott alongside Gabriel Osho.

Come January, however, Cardiff will surely elect something of a change intact. Further bodies are needed to contend with the arduous, unrelenting slog of League One and a couple of positions require bolstering.

The midfield department is a particular area of discourse among supporters, where many are eager to see reinforcements, and one could just be sourced in a similar deal which took the aforementioned Kellyman down the M4 from Chelsea to Cardiff back in the summer.

Cardiff City should try and sign Chelsea's Sam Rak-Sakyi in January

On paper, Cardiff's midfield options are overwhelmingly strong. Ryan Wintle, off the back of a mixed loan spell with Millwall after falling out-of-favour under ex-boss Erol Bulut, has re-emerged from the shadows to figure as one of Barry-Murphy's most trusted lieutenants, and it's little wonder when the 28-year-old already has more than 100 Championship appearances with Cardiff on his CV.

Alex Robertson, meanwhile, has only featured on three occasions this term owing to injury.

However, the recently-returning midfielder of real class and promise was a bright spark in the second-tier last time out following his arrival from Manchester City, and previously lit up League One on loan during Portsmouth's 2022/23 title-winning campaign.

The pedigree of personnel does not stop there, and perhaps no central midfielder has more of precisely that than David Turnbull. With 136 appearances and 31 goals for Scottish giants Celtic, the Bluebirds thought they had executed a real coup by bringing the technically-gifted Scotsman to South Wales in February of last year. Turnbull, though, has struggled for fitness, form and a regular starting berth throughout his time at Cardiff, the latter of which has continued despite the side's relegation to League One.

Joel Colwill, younger brother of star playmaker and vice-captain Rubin, has enjoyed something of a breakthrough following loan spells with Cheltenham Town and Exeter City. However, much like many of Cardiff's crop of young talent, 'Colwill junior' has endured peaks and troughs this term — though he did open his league account in the Bluebirds' 3-1 victory at Northampton Town on Saturday afternoon.

In terms of the individuals, there is a more collective school of thought that Cardiff's present midfield men are too stylistically similar. Colwill is the most athletic of the quartet, Robertson the most gifted full-stop, Wintle the most tactically-astute and Turnbull may just be the most refined passer. However, there are far too many physical parallels — Cardiff's midfield requires more presence and bite, attributes which aren't offered by what's available at Barry-Murphy's disposal right now.

Enter Chelsea's Sam Rak-Sakyi.

Standing at 5'10, Rak-Sakyi may not represent the physically-imposing and domineering midfield profile that Cardiff are craving. His skillset, however, compensates for that, with the Stamford Bridge prospect earning a reputation as an all-action midfielder equally capable of dictating the tempo and punching forward passes as he is at breaking up play, screening the defence and winning both ground and aerial duels.

It's not a slight on any of them, but one could argue each of Cardiff's senior midfield options possesses one or two outstanding weaknesses.

Their strengths, at least in some departments, may potentially usurp Rak-Sakyi's, though the 20-year-old's rounded skillset and ability to operate as both a 'number six' and in a slightly-more advanced box-to-box role ticks a number of boxes currently left unticked.

Cardiff's approach under Barry-Murphy necessitates the importance of steel and discipline at the heart of midfield. The Bluebirds are one of the most ball-dominant sides in the country, never mind League One, and often commit a mass number of bodies forward in attacks.

Their undoing, on a number of occasions this season, is the vulnerability to being left outnumbered and outmuscled when defending swift turnovers and counter-attacks from the opposition. That's the way that most teams in League One are shaping up to face Cardiff, and Rak-Sakyi's willingness to sit deep, hold position and contest physical duels means he's surely a viable target for the Bluebirds to set their sights on heading into the turn of the year.

Rak-Sakyi already has some senior experience to speak of, too, having featured four times for Chelsea in their UEFA Conference League-winning campaign last time out. He is, however, some way down in Enzo Maresca's prestige-laden pecking order, instead plying his trade with the Blues' under-21 side this term - a level which many deem the former England youth international to have now outgrown.

He needs senior football to aid his development at a critical juncture of his career and Chelsea also need that for the academy product, either for his long-term future at Stamford Bridge or for, as is par of the course in West London, an eventual sale.

Cardiff may just need Rak-Sakyi, too, and would have a trump card to use to their potential advantage in the event of any forthcoming negotiations with Maresca's side.

Cardiff City have Chelsea, Enzo Maresca transfer advantage - Omari Kellyman trick can be repeated

Barry-Murphy utilised his connections with Maresca to secure one of Cardiff's three summer signings in the aforementioned Kellyman, who Chelsea acquired from Aston Villa in a stunning £19 million deal just one year prior.

Kellyman had reportedly been the subject of Championship loan interest, but it was decided that Cardiff represented the best destination for the playmaker's development instead.

That deal came about courtesy of Barry-Murphy's relationship with Maresca, with the pair having worked closely together at Manchester City's academy before the Italian's move to Leicester City.

According to Barry-Murphy, Maresca was "very supportive" of Kellyman's move to Cardiff, and given the 20-year-old has both featured regularly and impressed — albeit with the feeling that the very best is still yet to come — after missing much of the previous campaign through injury, the Bluebirds are hardly going to be in Chelsea's bad books.

You do have to wonder whether that could open the door to a second deal with the Londoners in January, be that for Rak-Sakyi or anybody else. Maresca will, after all, have no shortage of understanding when it comes to Barry-Murphy's ability to develop young players and progressive, possession-based style — which is much like his own — and that's yet another factor that could help Cardiff's favour.

Championship interest may be presented once more, with Frank Lampard's Coventry City having made a "strong offer" to take Rak-Sakyi on loan mid-way through the 2024/25 season. However, it would seem unlikely that the table-topping Sky Blues will be revisiting that deal — their ambitions may now be fixed somewhat higher — and the case of Kellyman shows that Cardiff's connections can be more persuasive than Championship competition, which must now be kept in mind with Rak-Sakyi.