Vincent Tan must laugh to the Cardiff City bank at £2m transfer gold - major windfall looms | OneFootball

Cardiff City have pulled off a masterstroke with the summer signing of Irish playmaker Jack Moylan, who could go on to return a healthy future profit

Cardiff City's activity throughout the summer transfer window created fan division and left many within the Welsh capital deeply underwhelmed, yet, despite the noise, one particular deal is already poised to go down as one of the Bluebirds' finest in many years.

A raft of reinforcements were expected following promotion from League One at the very first time of asking, which had led supporters to eagerly anticipate some high-profile captures in order to prepare Cardiff for the trials and tribulations of life back in the Championship.

It was only to the disappointment of the Bluebirds faithful when many prayers went unanswered across a window that saw a total of four signings made and just two fresh faces arrive who hadn't been at the club during the previous campaign, with Nathan Trott joining permanently after starring on loan and Callum Scanlon arriving for a second temporary stint alongside the acquisitions of Krystian Bielik and, most notably, Jack Moylan.

There was significant anticipation and, then, just as much disappointment when Cardiff completed the window without adding to that number, having crucially missed out on the loan return of Omari Kellyman before Brian Barry-Murphy voiced a subsequent dissatisfaction with potential targets and would ultimately decide to make do with his lot until January.

Yet, while Cardiff have endured a difficult start to the campaign by the objective measure of results - performances, of course, have remained largely promising and the underlying data would suggest a strong impending upswing in form - Moylan has swiftly established himself as a star-turn under his fellow countryman and many within and around the club will wonder how exactly they were able to execute such an obvious masterstroke in the market.

Jack Moylan has started his Cardiff City career in stunning style

There was tangible excitement when Cardiff flexed their financial muscles to prise away the star player from a club who had finished 12 points clear of Barry-Murphy's side with a triple-digit points haul in League One, with Moylan's individual return of eleven goals and six assists having inspired Lincoln City's unprecedented title-winning campaign while earning a nomination for the division's Player of the Year award.

Much to Lincoln's detriment, the Bluebirds remain in a different financial class to their promotion rivals of the previous term, who, remarkably, possessed the seventh-lowest budget throughout the division.

It's only to Lincoln's credit that they were still able to defy all odds to lift the title at a canter, yet it left them susceptible and Cardiff would deal a body blow by securing Moylan's signature in a reported £2 million deal.

The talented Irishman wasted absolutely no time in announcing himself, scoring a well-taken winning goal within five minutes of appearing from the bench in Cardiff's 3-2 EFL Cup first-round advance over Swindon Town of League Two.

As it felt at the time, that was simply a sign of what was to come.

Moylan has gone from strength to strength in the early throes of the new term, and after recording eye-catching displays in consecutive draws against Wrexham and Derby County, he would open his league account by finding the back of the net within the first two minutes of Cardiff's chaotic 2-2 home tie with Sheffield United at the end of August.

Cardiff struggled to build upon encouraging foundations from their opening fixtures as September headed underway with three defeats and a draw at home to Stoke City and Moylan, much like the majority of his teammates, would see the majority of those fixtures pass him by somewhat.

Nonetheless, though, Moylan remained the bright spark that Cardiff would often look to for hisses of craft and energy in the final third and, when it finally clicked with a rousing 3-1 victory over Charlton Athletic to sign off into the three-week international break on winning terms, the 25-year-old was at the very heart of it all.

Maintaining his knack of opening the scoring early, Moylan broke the deadlock after just eight minutes with intelligent off-the-ball running to ghost past two Charlton defenders and capitalise on a one-two with striker Yousef Salech to fire home before doubling his tally in the second-half.

Having already set up Salech for Cardiff's second goal, Moylan put the game to bed with an extraordinary finish from range, exchanging with Ollie Tanner and then unleashing a first-time rocket outside of the area with the sort of rocketing venom that Addicks goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo was always going to be powerless to prevent.

WIth four goals from his first ten appearances, and three in eight across league action for a side to have struck on just ten occasions to date, Moylan's goalscoring threat is vindicating Cardiff's investment on its own yet, as any Bluebirds fan will tell you, it's what he's offering outside of that area which is even more impressive - and that's precisely why the ex-Imps sensation is one of just six outfield players to have started every Championship game for City thus far.

A dynamic ball-carrying presence from attacking midfield with the directness and incisiveness that brings a whole new dimension to his side's attacking style, Moylan is just as capable at starting moves as he is at progressing, and then finishing them off entirely.

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The Republic of Ireland international is gifted with guile and agility in possession that enables him to breeze past opposition defenders with consummate ease, whereas his ability to combine and carve out chances is precisely what's going to tie everything together for an attacking line that has failed to fully get going so far.

It's little wonder, of course, that Moylan has already established himself as a firm fan favourite, marrying up mesmerising manouvers, classy carries and scintillating strikes from all areas with the relentless work-ethic out of possession that Bluebirds supporters demand as a non-negotiable - though the most exciting part is that the best is yet to come.

Cardiff City can make huge Jack Moylan transfer profit

As is well-documented, divisive owner Vincent Tan has suffered his fair share of burns in the transfer window but Moylan is primed to certify his standing as one of Cardiff's very best signings in recent years and that may just leave the Malaysian to lick his lips.

The Irish playmaker has, in the eyes of many fans, already done enough to make the cited £2 million figure for his services represent little more than pocket change, with Cardiff getting well beyond value for money after luring the starlet away from Lincoln.

Cardiff acted shrewdly to tie his signature down to a four-year contract, a decision which will provide ample security and bargaining power if and when vultures begin to circle. Accounting for the speed of Moylan's rise, though, with so many rich performances already and such a multi-faceted, rounded and functional profile in the final third, one can only assume it won't be long before that becomes the case.

Moylan may be no spring chicken at 25, yet it's hard to deny the height of the Irishman's footballing ceiling and Cardiff will know exactly how far he can go with a healthy profit in store in the years to come.

Cardiff City star Jack Moylan is enhancing his reputation on the international stage

Moylan's ascension is not exclusive to his performances at club level either, with the attacking midfielder also enhancing his reputation by shining on the international stage for the Republic of Ireland following the most emphatic of debuts back in May.

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The Bluebirds ace couldn't have possibly asked to mark his first cap in finer fashion by scoring a stunning hattrick in a 5-0 friendly rout of Grenada, and though he would then see red against Qatar before putting in a quieter display from the bench against Kosovo to commence the batch of UEFA Nations League fixtures for Heimir Hallgrimsson's side, no star shone brighter than his in Sunday evening's much-scrutinised showdown versus Israel.

Moylan, who was one of just three players to have reportedly shown support and understanding for Gavin Bazunu following the Irish goalkeeper's decision to withdraw himself from the matches against Israel, came to the fore by setting up Adam Idah's goal before adding his nation's third some nine minutes later.

Some mishap defending from Israel would allow Moylan to gain possession, drive through the backline of Ireland's opponents and then slot coolly past Daniel Peretz - and he only made more headlines with a defiant celebration.

With Ireland wearing black armbands for the occasion "in recognition of all lives lost in the conflict" under Israeli's military offensive in Gaza - which has reportedly claimed more than 73,000 Palestinian lives in the last three years - Moylan made a pointed effort of holding up his and kissing the armband.

It was a powerful moment following significant controversy and uncertainty as to whether Ireland would fulfil the fixture, and though many believed that it shouldn't have gone ahead, Moylan notably blocked out all the outside noise to put in yet another outstanding display.

Now, with another contentious fixture against Israel to follow and a home clash with Austria later this week on the agenda, the Bluebirds will naturally be watching on and hoping to see Moylan continue lighting it up internationally ahead of the return to club football in just under two weeks' time.