"He's the one" - Cardiff City star tipped for January exit despite big Brian Barry-Murphy decision | OneFootball

Football League World's Cardiff City fan pundit outlined the one player he believes will be angling for an exit in the next transfer window

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…

Cardiff City's summer transfer window was underlined by an emphasis on retaining prized assets following relegation from the Championship, a line of thinking which has paid dividends during the early stages of the new League One campaign.

Shortly after relegation was confirmed, chairman Mehmet Dalman revealed the club's intention of holding on to their star players and sought to play down any fears of the Bluebirds being reluctantly forced to sanction sales of assets. Cardiff stuck to their guns, and Dalman to his word.

Cardiff fended off persistent interest in the likes of Cian Ashford, Rubin Colwill, Ronan Kpakio, Dylan Lawlor and Alex Robertson, while striker Yousef Salech was also strongly tipped by some for a swift exit following his blistering goalscoring impact in the second-half of the 2024/25 season but ended up staying put, too.

That's not to say the Bluebirds opted against sanctioning outgoings, of course, and 14 players would head out the door throughout the summer months. Many of those, however, were senior heads and those deemed surplus to requirements. Those Cardiff wanted to keep hold of, they did just that — perhaps with the sole exception of Callum O'Dowda.

One big name who remained with Cardiff was Calum Chambers, with the former Arsenal and England international defender receiving a significant show of faith and trust when he was named as club captain by Brian Barry-Murphy ahead of City's season-opener at home to Peterborough United.

Chambers missed the curtain-raiser through suspension, having been dismissed in Cardiff's final game of the previous season away to Norwich City, and while he would start in his side's 0-0 draw at Port Vale, a difficult display in the 2-1 EFL Cup first-round triumph over Swindon Town has knocked him down the pecking order.

The versatile operator, who has spent all but the last two seasons of his career playing Premier League football, can fill in at centre-back, right-back or even in midfield, though he has fierce competitors in all of those positions and, despite being handed the armband, Cardiff's skipper has been used sparingly so far this term with vice-captain Rubin Colwill leading the side instead.

Calum Chambers tipped for Cardiff City transfer exit in January

Football League World asked our resident Bluebirds fan pundit, Matt Hall, to name a Cardiff player who didn't leave in the summer but could well be angling for a January exit.

Matt opted to go with Chambers, who he believes is capable of playing at a higher level than League One and will therefore not be content with remaining a bit-part player in the third-tier.

"Unfortunately for him, I think it will be Calum Chambers," Matt told FLW.

"If you go back a month-and-a-half ago, he was appointed club captain and was starting in the 'A team', so to speak, in pre-season. He committed himself, he could've left.

"We don't know about any interest but he definitely could've left to go and play at a higher level than League One. But obviously, we appreciated the loyalty he showed us and being a club captain was a big indictment of that.

"However, you look at it now and he's maybe fourth choice. You've got Dylan Lawlor and Will Fish, they're the first choices at the moment and Gabriel Osho was brought in from Auxerre, he will most likely be third choice if not first or second and push one of the others out of the team.

"So that leaves him being fourth choice at centre-half, really. Obviously he had a really good cameo against Wimbledon at right-back, but then Perry Ng comes back from injury so that role becomes a bit less sustainable.

"And really, he could easily play as a defensive midfielder backing up Ryan Wintle. Obviously Eli King is out for the season, there's always a chance of that, but once again, in the (EFL) cup game against Cheltenham Town, Dakarai Mafico, lovely young player, gets to play in that role while Chambers plays at centre-half.

"So it does feel like Chambers is reserved to being the first-choice cup centre-half and him himself, unless he is dedicated and has bought into the project, he won't want that. He hasn't got many years left in his career, he won't want that.

"I think he's the one who would seek a move, although I don't see him or anybody else actively pushing for a move."

Calum Chambers' Cardiff City move has not gone to plan

Once a hugely promising prodigy in the Premier League touted for a glittering career at the top of the game, Chambers' early promise at Southampton gradually faded after he joined Arsenal in 2015 and his move to Aston Villa failed to get his fortunes back on track.

The ex-Fulham and Middlesbrough loan man only ever managed 38 appearances during two-and-a-half years at Villa Park before joining Cardiff last summer, which represented the first time in his career that he had played outside of the Premier League.

That pedigree was expected to translate itself rather swimmingly to the Championship, though that wasn't the case as Chambers, while solid enough, endured a difficult debut season at Cardiff.

Chambers would have envisaged his move to Bluebirds as a welcome opportunity to play regular football once again and get his career back on track but, now in League One and struggling to force his way into Barry-Murphy's side despite clearly being well-liked by the Irishman, it most certainly has not played out as hoped.