Cardiff City urged to take contract action - He can net Bluebirds "£10m" cash windfall | OneFootball

Football League World's Cardiff City fan pundit discussed the future of wonderkid full-back Ronan Kpakio

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's blistering start to the 2025/26 League One campaign has been spearheaded by a number of young and talented homegrown academy products blossoming into stars under the hugely-popular Brian Barry-Murphy.

The Bluebirds are, at this moment in time, the team to beat following a stunning start to life in the third-tier, which has seen them win five of their opening six games, while they are yet to concede defeat or a single goal from open play.

Cardiff elected to make just three signings all summer — and three impressive ones at that, it must be said — with the League One promotion hopefuls securing ambitious deals for Nathan Trott, Gabriel Osho and £19 million Chelsea winger Omari Kellyman. The emphasis, however, was on retaining prized assets and flipping the squad culture on its head to have the litany of exuberant, high-potential prospects at the heartbeat of the side, with a number of senior and experienced operators shifted throughout the summer transfer window.

Brothers Rubin and Joel Colwill, alongside the likes of Cian Ashford, Isaak Davies, Wales international Dylan Lawlor, the emerging Dakarai Mafico, have all, in their own rights and to differing extents, of course, made impressions in the early throes of the campaign.

Attack-minded right-back Ronan Kpakio, who made a handful of first-team appearances last season, is another Bluebirds wonderkid to have come into his own this time out, and, with recent reports indicating that Premier League and Championship clubs have been tracking his explosive progression in recent times, there are already fears that he could be prised away before long.

Cardiff City urged to strike new contract for £10m-rated Ronan Kpakio

Kpakio has started every available league fixture to date, and opened his professional goalscoring account with a stunning, match-winning strike in Cardiff's 2-1 opening day victory over Peterborough United.

Still aged just 18, the energetic full-back has long been tipped as a potential superstar of tomorrow and his footballing ceiling has been talked up by none other than Wales boss Craig Bellamy, who has called Kpakio up to each of his last two international squads and lauded his "ridiculously high" potential back in May.

FLW asked our resident Bluebirds fan pundit, Matt Hall, whether he has fears of Kpakio being lured away amid interest from top-flight and Championship clubs, and to explain what sort of fee he would like to see the club hold out for.

In Matt's view, Kpakio could be sold on for £10 million but a longer-term contract must first be in order, with the teenager having penned his first professional deal last summer.

The length of that contract, however, is unclear, and Matt has urged Cardiff to repeat their action on the aforementioned Lawlor, who has been linked with the likes of Rangers, RB Salzburg and Stoke City but signed a recently signed new three-year contract, with his previous deal having been set to expire next summer.

"Obviously Ronan Kpakio has been fantastic. I can't imagine a Wales debut is long to come, he's someone I see being the future right-back of Wales.

"In terms of fears, at this moment in time, it's unknown what sort of contract he's got, and when until, nobody knows.

"I think a lot of clubs will be circling in January trying to prise him away from us. It's the club's job now to secure him to a first-team contract that's long-term, similar to what they've done with Dylan Lawlor, before he plays any more football.

"He's going to play for Wales before January, so it's very important to do that.

"He is someone that I'm not worried about losing, because it's someone you're accepting that you will lose down the line.

"Unless we have some meteoric rise, the reality is that he'll outgrow us. But part of the process we've got now and should be having is that we shouldn't fear about losing a player like Kpakio.

"Fee-wise, you're looking at £10 million if you were to secure him to a longer-term contract.

£10 million is the sort of fee that you could either go out and purchase a right-back for or look at who's next in line down in the academy, and the blessing of having Brian Barry-Murphy as manager is that I'm sure he's looking all the way down to the under-16's at players that have a trajectory to make it in the first-team.

"So it's not a worry for me as we've gone too long now where we haven't been able to sell anyone. Obviously there are some you'd rather keep than others, but in that right-back position, he's a wonderkid. Secure him down, keep him as long as we can and we should get a fee that represents the development we've given him."

Cardiff City need promotion in order to keep Ronan Kpakio

Cardiff's lightning start has, of course, been inspired by the clutch of promising homegrown talents stamping down their authority on the first-team, and they are showing no signs of slowing down. At this moment in time, there is little to suggest that the Bluebirds will be spending more than one season in English football's third-tier, though it's a long old campaign that can throw up no shortage of curveballs and Cardiff will know that promotion is imperative if they intend on retaining their star performers.

Even if Cardiff do gain promotion, fears surrounding the futures of Kpakio and Lawlor will persist, particularly so with the former after earning fresh top-flight interest.

But Kpakio, in spite of his tender age and relative lack of experience, has already shown himself to be a cut above League One level and is destined to the top — much like Lawlor, for that matter.

The Welshman's future, eventually, does appear to lie away from Cardiff, though they will be hoping to keep him and accelerate his journey for as long as possible.