Why Cardiff City will love West Ham transfer developments | OneFootball

West Ham's interest in some of Cardiff City's top young talents has faded following recent signings

Cardiff City underwent a much-needed refresh in League One, as the club adopted a more youth-focused approach under Brian Barry-Murphy.

Whether that was always the plan is up in the air, as the Bluebirds only made three signings last summer ahead of their first campaign back in the third tier for over two decades, but losing lots of senior players and promoting academy graduates worked a treat.

Under a head coach who has managed some of the brightest young stars at Manchester City in Barry-Murphy, Cardiff were comfortable in League One, dominating possession and hardly leaving second gear en route to a top-two finish and automatic promotion at the first attempt.

In that squad were several academy graduates and young Welsh stars, namely the Colwill brothers, Rubin and Joel, right-back Ronan Kpakio and centre-back Dylan Lawlor. The latter three had hardly made first-team appearances until last season.

West Ham United had interest in Cardiff City starts towards the start of the summer

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Unfortunately, though, when young players emerge into the first team and look a cut above the rest, sides further up the pyramid are going to be swirling, and even despite their promotion into the Championship, there were worries that Cardiff would end up losing some of their promising talent.

Recently relegated West Ham United were the subject of numerous transfer rumours throughout the ongoing window, as the Hammers looked to retool and rebuild ahead of their first second-tier campaign in 15 years.

Some of those reports had Nuno Espírito Santo's side linked with a raid in the Welsh capital. Indeed, Lawlor, Rubin Colwill, Kpakio and Salech were all talked about regarding a switch from Cardiff to West Ham.

West Ham United have seemingly pivoted elsewhere this summer

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However, those transfer links were swirling around in the early stages of the summer window, and in the months gone by, they've died down quite significantly. But West Ham still needed to be active in the window, and there'd be some worry that those links would resurface.

The Hammers started to go to work in the window this past week, but they've landed on different targets, much to Cardiff's joy and partial relief.

West Ham secured the loan arrival of Championship bagsman Joel Piroe from Leeds United with an obligation to buy at the end of the season, likely if the Hammers get promoted. That should spell the end of the links with Salech.

Meanwhile, they broke the Championship signing record by spending £22 million on Celtic's creative midfielder, Arne Engels, which should rule out any pursuit of Colwill.

With experienced defender Joel Veltman also arriving at the London Stadium earlier this month, that could rule out a move for Lawlor. Albeit, the general talk even while West Ham were interested in the 20-year-old was that no approaches had been made.

Cardiff City can breathe a sigh of relief as key players remain at the club

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Of those four linked with West Ham, only Salech started Cardiff's opening Championship game against Wrexham. Kpakio and Colwill came off the bench, the latter netting a late free kick to draw the game, and Lawlor, who'd likely be first choice at the back, was out injured.

Nonetheless, all four will have big parts to play in the second tier this season for Barry-Murphy's side, and seeing Championship promotion contenders such as the Hammers linked with all of them would have been worrying.

But it looks like, with just over a week remaining of the window, Cardiff are going to be able to avoid losing any of their key players, barring a late bid from someone.

It's been another quiet window at the Cardiff City Stadium, but arguably, with the young group of players who proved they were at the level to compete in the Championship while in League One, there didn't need to be mass improvements.

Only Ryan Wintle has left, who played a key role in the Bluebirds side last year. Otherwise, the natural progression of second-tier-ready stars could be enough to ensure survival in their first year back.

Young players will have a better chance at progressing under Brian Barry-Murphy's leadership

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Not only will the possibility of retaining young stars be beneficial to Cardiff's survival chances this season, but remaining in the Welsh capital would give these players aged 24 and under the best possible chance to improve under one of the best in the game for youth development.

Barry-Murphy's credentials are well known, having managed Manchester City's development squad for three years, overseeing the development of the likes of Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Nico O'Reilly, to name a few.

There arguably isn't a better-suited manager in the Championship to oversee the steps into regular first-team football than the Cardiff boss, so remaining under him in the Welsh capital should be right at the top of a young player's mind at the club right now.

Remaining at Cardiff will help them grow and improve quicker, which could lead them to move into the Premier League in the future, while a move to a top Championship side could see them lost in the shuffle if they don't develop as they have been in recent years under Barry-Murphy.