Cardiff City urged to strike '£3-4m' transfer for 'really talented' Chelsea FC player - 'I'm still scarred by Jaden Philogene' | OneFootball

The Chelsea midfielder has made an excellent start to life at Cardiff City, and the Bluebirds are being urged to extend his time there, if possible.

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...

Six points clear of the pack and with just one defeat in their last eleven league matches, Cardiff City have recovered excellently from last season.

The Bluebirds are flying high at the top of League One, and one of their most impressive performers this season has been attacking midfielder Omari Kellyman.

The attacking midfielder has been a key component in Brian Barry-Murphy's team, and the player himself has suggested to be open to the idea of staying at Cardiff, should they return to the Championship at the end of this season. Kellyman is on loan at the Cardiff City Stadium from Chelsea, who had signed him from Aston Villa for a reported £19 million, a year earlier.

"He is a really talented player" - Omari Kellyman hailed following strong Cardiff start

Football League World have spoken to our Cardiff City fan pundit Matt Hall about the possibility of extending their association with Omari Kellyman, and Matt is keen that this should happen: "It's good to hear, first and foremost, that he is happy to sign on a permanent deal if the opportunity comes about. That's something I'm happy to see on a general level. He is a really talented player that I do enjoy watching and at the age of 19, there's only more to come from him."

And Matt believes that a deal could be struck at a reasonable price: "As far as numbers go, I think a deal could be struck in the £3m-£4m region. Leo Castledine going for £1m. I don't know whether there was some sort of clause in there, or some additional funds that's gone into that, but a player that was getting significantly better numbers than Omari Kellyman and is pure profit for them compared to the £20m that they paid for him, is a good parameter to where we could look for Kellyman."

Matt recognises that there are limits to what Cardiff can spend, but also considers a further loan as a potential option: "Obviously, we might not fork out £4m-£5m in one summer. It may case that we do go for a loan with an option to buy, because we haven't really seen the full Omari Kellyman yet. But for me, whether it's permanent or another loan, I think we have got to go for it again."

And the memory of one player in particular makes him all the more wary about not missing out on an excellent young player again: "I'm scarred by Jaden Philogene, the one that got away. I don't want to see that happen again, another player we see playing for a Championship team in a few years time and think, "wow, what a player they were for us, why didn't we sign him?" It seems that on both sides there is interest in keeping it going, so why not?"

Staying at Cardiff could work well for both Kellyman and Cardiff, subject to Chelsea's agreement

Getting Omari Kellyman to stay beyond the end of this season would most likely only come about as part of a loan deal. He cost Chelsea £19 million less than two years ago, and in no small part because of who his parent club are, he was signed on a six-year contract. He'll still have four years to run on his contract by the end of this season.

And Chelsea gave an example of how-nosed they can be when it comes to their loan players just last month, when they blocked Kellyman from playing against them in their Carabao Cup quarter-final match. It was, of course, their entitlement to do so, but it should serve as a warning to Cardiff City that transfer negotiations with them could be tough.

But it could yet work in a way that could benefit Cardiff, in the case of Omari Kellyman. It's not uncommon for young players to spend several seasons out on loan, early in their careers, and there has long been a practice of moving up the divisions when performing well.

Kellyman has impressed for Cardiff City this season, having made 17 appearances for them, of which 11 have been starts, and having scored twice. He did struggle at first, as he admitted to the BBC in a wide-ranging interview published last week, but has settled in better as time has progressed, and while there have been fluctuations in his form, he's been improving.

It's a long way off guaranteed yet, but Cardiff are nine points above third-placed Bradford City. There is an excellent chance that they will be promoted, come the end of the season, and they've so far held onto their highly-rated head coach Brian Barry-Murphy. A swift return to the Championship seems at least as likely as not.

Providing he has a good second half to the season with Cardiff, the next natural stage in Kellyman's development would also be to have a season in the Championship in 2026-27. And if he's happy at Cardiff, and the team has a strong momentum behind them following a promotion of their own, then it would make perfect sense for him to stay another season in South Wales, testing himself at a level closer to what he might expect in the Premier League with Chelsea.

But of course, this would also all have to be agreed with his parent club. Chelsea's decision would be final, just as it was five weeks ago, before the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.