Leicester City & Southampton dodged transfer bullet – Leeds United must agree | OneFootball

Leicester City and Southampton, as well as Leeds United, dodged a bullet over Cardiff City attacker Ollie Tanner.

Cardiff City are threatening to run away with the League One title already with the Bluebirds in an excellent position as the second-half of the campaign rumbles on.

They have an excellent squad with Brian Barry-Murphy cultivating a superb style of football for a team that boast a lot of impressive academy graduates as well as a lot of experience in other key areas of the pitch. One man that is neither one nor the other is Ollie Tanner, though.

Tanner, who is on the fringes of things at the Cardiff City Stadium, was linked with a move away from south Wales this time last year, with then Premier League sides Leicester City and Southampton, as well as eventual Championship winners Leeds United in the frame to sign the 23-year-old winger.

Since then, though, Tanner has endured a miserable time of it for Cardiff with injuries, a loss of form and falling down the pecking order contributing to his stagnation.

It has been 12 months that will leave both Leicester and Southampton, as well as Leeds, content with having dodged a major transfer bullet last year.

Ollie Tanner has fallen out of favour at Cardiff

Having come through the academies of both Charlton Athletic and Arsenal, Ollie Tanner turned professional at Bromley but that, due to an underwhelming stint, soon saw him transfer to Lewes.

The left-footed right-winger was something of a non-league wonder kid with Tottenham Hotspur once said to be interested in his services before his move to Cardiff in 2022.

While with Cardiff, Tanner has always been in and out of the side but was more in than our in 2024 with 12 starts for the Bluebirds in the first par of the 2024/25 campaign.

However, injuries took effect, limited Tanner to just 11 appearances in the Championship from the end of November onwards as the Welsh outfit succumbed to relegation.

This time around, Tanner started the opening four games of the campaign but failed to make much of an impact before an injury ruled him out until a couple of unused substitute roles in late-December.

He has returned to the fray and could have an impact in the run in but he remains some way off being a guaranteed starter for the League One title challengers.

Leicester and Southampton have enough on their plate

While Tanner has drifted from being a regular in the Championship to someone fighting for his spot in League One, Leicester City and Southampton have endured very difficult periods.

Following their respective relegations from the Premier League last season, the Foxes and Saints are languishing firmly in the middle-of-the-table with both Marti Cifuentes and Tonda Eckert, who replaced Will Still earlier this season at St Mary’s, under immense pressure.

A lot of their respective squads are also under intense scrutiny from supporters with a widely held view that there is both a lot of so-called ‘dead wood’ and also players just simply wanting out for them to still shed, as perhaps shown by how many outgoings each had late on in the summer window.

Leeds, on the other hand, are battling extremely well in the Premier League with an attack that has a lot of pedigree, such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor.

The standard of those signings in comparison to what would have been had Tanner moved to Elland Road is stark and the last thing that Leicester and Southampton require or required was another player that would underwhelm.

At his absolute best, Tanner is a very useful, perhaps even important, member of the Cardiff squad in League One but an important member of a League One squad is perhaps his peak.

It would have been a surprise to see him move to any of Leicester, Southampton or Leeds and all three will be relieved to have avoided that deal.