How Cardiff City’s eight-figure transfer bullet nearly hit Celtic | OneFootball

The Scottish giants were linked with Josh Murphy a few years after Cardiff City splashed an eight-figure fee for him

Josh Murphy's 12-year stint at Norwich City, in which he came up through the academy to become a regular at Carrow Road, ended in 2018 with a Premier League move to Cardiff City.

The Bluebirds had earned promotion to the top-flight the year before, doing the double over Norwich in the process, but while Murphy's impact in those games was minimal, the then-23-year-old netted 11 goals across the campaign, including at the Emirates in an EFL Cup extra-time defeat against Arsenal.

After impressing in the Championship for a couple of years, Cardiff felt that Murphy was ready for the step-up to the top-flight, and those in charge at the Welsh capital club believed that he had the potential to become one of the top widemen in the division, so they spent £11 million to bring him in.

At the time, it equalled their record transfer fee from when they bought Chilean midfielder Gary Medel in 2013, so there were high expectations for the former Norwich man.

Unfortunately, he didn't help the club remain in the Premier League, nor did he return to his former self in the Championship. He ended up leaving the club for nothing at the end of his contract in 2022, but there was almost a scenario where Scottish giants Celtic would bring him in.

Celtic showed interest in Josh Murphy deal in 2020

Muprhy would score just three times and add two assists in his sole Premier League campaign in South Wales, as Cardiff were relegated back to the Championship at the first time of asking, finishing just two points shy of safety.

His return to the second tier, though, didn't see him excel, as he'd score just once in the first half of the 2019/20 season, and he'd even lose his place in the side for the entirety of November and for parts of December and January, too.

Evidently out of favour under new Cardiff boss, Neil Harris, Scottish champions Celtic would launch a late loan bid for Murphy on transfer deadline day in the January window, which the Bluebirds would turn down.

That ultimately led the winger to his best scoring run throughout his time at the Cardiff City Stadium. He'd net five in six games in all competitions in a month between mid-January and mid-February, and many felt that Neil Lennon's side would have to pay a little more to pry him away from the Welsh capital.

As it happened, though, the Covid pandemic would derail that momentum shortly afterwards, and Murphy wouldn't play much of a part in the rest of the season, when it resumed, despite netting a brace in a big win over Middlesbrough, which helped consolidate their place in the play-offs that year.

Celtic's interest went away by the summer, and Murphy's output continued to diminish at his current club to the point where they were happy to loan him out to Preston North End in the final year of his deal. After 12 appearances and no goals at Deepdale, he left Cardiff and was picked up by Oxford United in 2022.

Celtic were wise not to be fooled by Josh Murphy purple patch in 2020, but Cardiff should have accepted the loan bid when it came

While now, when fit, Muprhy is arguably one of the best wingers in the Championship at Portsmouth, it's taken him a while to rediscover that form on a consistent basis, and it wouldn't be until 2023 at Oxford that he began to show glimpses of that 23-year-old who cost Cardiff £11 million.

After Celtic registered interest, the winger would respond with an incredible scoring run, and even if he didn't play much of a part in the resumed campaign, that may still have been enough to think that he'd be worth taking a punt on as the natural ability was always clear for all to see.

As it happened, Murphy wouldn't register another five goals over the next three seasons, as his time wound down at the Welsh capital, and he endured a difficult loan spell at Preston, so it was clear that he wasn't ready to be battling in Europe with the Scottish giants.

When it was all said and done, he'd go down as one of the biggest transfer flops Cardiff have ever had, given the expectations surrounding the price tag, and the Bluebirds would have been left to rue not accepting the initial bid, which would have seen him depart the club long before his tenure began to take a real sour turn.