Cardiff City star could finally now have lift off – He can dominate the division | OneFootball

Cardiff City could have the keys to promotion with goal scoring Yousef Salech, who has now opened his League One account.

Cardiff City have come down to League One for the first time in over 20 years for this season, and the Bluebirds have done little business, but they may already have the keys to promotion in their attack.

Following their return to the third-tier of English football, Welsh giants Cardiff have stuck with a young core to their squad, with former Rochdale boss Brian Barry-Murphy having been appointed to implement his progressive and often risky style of football.

Cardiff have started the campaign well, too, with a comebackfrom behind defeat of Peterborough United on the opening day setting their stall out for what was to come, with Rubin Colwill firing in a delightful free-kick.

Cardiff’s young squad full of academy graduates does still boast a few players that could have become Championship stars, and one of them would be Yousef Salech.

Salech may not have immediately hit the ground running this season, but he has now got himself off the mark and the Danish-born striker has the capabilities to tear up League One.

Yousef Salech could be the star for promotion chasing Cardiff City

Yousef Salech made the move to the Cardiff City Stadium in the January transfer window from Swedish Allsvenskan side Sirius for a fee between £3-4 million, according to reports.

Salech, who had begun his professional career for HIK before moves to Brondby, HB Koge and Beveren, had notched 12 goals in 28 appearances for Sirius, prompting Cardiff to gamble on bringing him in.

In just 20 appearances for a poor Cardiff side that finished rock-bottom in the Championship, creating very little with very little quality, Salech managed to notch eight times last season.

With what is a young squad and a clear decision to take the side into a different direction, it wouldn’t have been a surprise for Cardiff to cash in on Salech this summer, but he has remained in south Wales instead.

His performances weren’t necessarily poor in the opening couple of games against Posh and then Port Vale, but service was limited with Cardiff figuring their fairly complex patterns of play out, which will continue to probably occasionally stifle them.

However, when they get things right under Barry-Murphy, and things run smoothly with a fluency to their play, the likelihood is for a lot of chances to be created and Salech appears to be, at least technically, a level above the third-tier.

He didn’t need fluent movement from open play to get off the mark, though, with his first goal of the season, a header from a corner, also highlighting the variety to his game that will make him a consistent threat in League One.

Cardiff could have League One’s next top striker in Yousef Salech

Last season, only one player reached 20 or more goals in the third-tier and that was Charlie Kelman, who spent the season on loan at Leyton Orient from Queens Park Rangers.

That would suggest the tactical shifts in the EFL over recent seasons that have made strikers a little less important in terms of sheer scoring abilities, and more facilitators or even defensive players in terms of their pressing, were even more pronounced last year.

That doesn’t mean, though, that goal scoring isn’t an absolutely fundamental part of a successful team and that is shown by the leading scorers in the third-tier last season.

Kelman himself helped Leyton Orient reach the League One play-off final, with four of the other seven players to have scored 15 goals or more in the division getting promoted with their respective sides: Jay Stansfield and Alfie May of Birmingham City, Matty Godden of Charlton Athletic and Sam Smith of Reading and then Wrexham.

Of the other three, Louie Barry left a Stockport County side that would finish third mid-way through the season, whilst Richard Kone led Wycombe Wanderers to the play-offs, too. Only Davis Keillor-Dunn at Barnsley wasn’t a part of a promotion contender.

The modern game requires more than just goals from a striker, and Salech also certainly provides that, but the fundamentals of putting the ball in the back of the net are almost underrated with the proliferation of tactical overthink; and Salech is Cardiff’s point of difference in that regard.