Cardiff City star has "everything you could want" - Bluebirds backed to net "£20-25m" cash windfall | OneFootball

Football League World's resident Cardiff City fan pundit discussed the club's most sellable asset

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 have entered an exciting new era under progressive and popular head coach Brian Barry-Murphy, who has translated his eagerness for entrusting and developing youth talent honed in charge of Manchester City's Elite Development Squad to the Welsh capital.

Bluebirds supporters have long clung onto a sense of anticipation and excitement pertaining to the emerging crop of talent which has developed at the club over the last few years, courtesy of increased emphasis and financial outlay in blooding through the finest young prospects in South Wales.

Now, Cardiff are truly seeing the fruits of their labour. Cardiff's early-season success has been fuelled by the wealth of youngsters handed new licenses of trust and responsibility by Barry-Murphy, whose side had been unbeaten in League One prior to last weekend's 3-1 home defeat against league leaders Bradford City.

The Bluebirds, however, swiftly made amends by claiming a major scalp over Premier League Burnley midweek, in which their second goal was poked home by academy product Joel Colwill, to set up a pulse-racing EFL Cup fourth round tie away at Wrexham next month.

It's a refreshing era for supporters, who long bemoaned the lack of big-money sales made by the club — indicating significant shortcomings in identifying, recruiting and cultivating talent — compared to many of their divisional rivals in the Championship at the time. Last summer, of course, the sale of Mark McGuinness to Luton Town for a fee which may eventually rise to £10 million, offered a rare exception to the rule.

And now, there is now growing confidence that a host of young, talented homegrown products can command serious financial outlays in the years to come.

Cardiff City tipped for £20-25m Dylan Lawlor cash windfall

Football League World asked our resident Cardiff fan pundit, Matt Hall, to predict the next big-money sale the club will make, and how much for, following Mark McGuinness' exit the previous summer.

Matt had no shortage of options to choose from, with the likes of Joel and Rubin Colwill, Ronan Kpakio, Dylan Lawlor, and recruits such as Alex Robertson and Yousef Salech, all worthy contenders. However, Matt opted to go with Lawlor, who has emerged as one of the most promising young defenders outside of the Premier League by establishing himself at the heart of Cardiff's defence.

A modern ball-playing central defender with exceptional distribution and reading of the game — all vital components in Barry-Murphy's possession-based model, of course — Lawlor has married his technical gifts with increased physical rigor and recently made his senior international debut for Wales, in which he produced a Man of the Match display in a slender 1-0 World Cup qualification victory away to Kazakhstan.

In Matt's view, Lawlor has "everything you could want" in a young centre back, is a superior player to the aforementioned McGuinness and will eventually net Cardiff a staggering "£20-25 million" fee once the time comes for the Welshman to graduate onto bigger and better things.

"For starters, I think it's a compliment to the club as it is at the moment that this is a hard decision, the fact we have so many players I could consider as being big-money sales," Matt told FLW.

"My answer probably would've changed every month for the last few months. Yousef Salech in the summer would've been the one that I would've said, then at the start of the season I'd have said Rubin Colwill.

"I think now, comfortably, it's Dylan Lawlor. Centre-halves are a breed that are changing, clubs are looking for massively different things than they were five years ago.

"Obviously Mark McGuinness was a £10 million signing for Luton — well overpriced — but offers a small percentage of what Lawlor offers. He is by far a better player.

"He is tied down to a new contract, so that puts us in good stead. When we've had him on the pitch, we haven't conceded from open play (in the league), we've only conceded one goal with him on the pitch this season.

"He is just a fantastic footballer. Obviously for Wales as well, clean sheet on debut, Man of the Match.

"He's got everything you could want. He's got a good head on his shoulders, he's a good age, passing-wise, he passes better than a lot of our midfielders. I think a side will be looking at him now, and he will be a £20-25 million sale.

"He's the sort of profile that a lot of sides will like. Maybe his size would be a disadvantage, he'd probably suit a back three more and I think he would absolutely smash Serie A, so I could see that happening.

"I think he's the sort of player that doesn't come around often, certainly not at League One level. Speaking of League One, I think him bulking up and getting more physically adapted to a style of football that you see in League One will stand him in good stead as far as development goes.

"I hope we don't lose him too soon, but I think he will be a massive, massive sale for the club.

Cardiff City's Dylan Lawlor has already earned transfer interest

Transfer courtship is nothing new for Lawlor, who was reportedly eyed up by the likes of Russell Martin's Rangers, RB Salzburg and Stoke City alongside undisclosed top-flight clubs in both Denmark and Spain before putting pen to paper on a new three-year contract with his boyhood club last month.

That agreement, considering the prior and inevitable future interest in Lawlor's signature, represents a real coup, especially given his previous deal had been due to expire at the end of the current campaign.

But, having tied Lawlor down to a new long-term deal, Cardiff now have the license to operate with a hardball stance and can sell him strictly on their terms, in which a colossal financial package will surely have to be inbound to the Welsh capital.