Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool plotting double Cardiff City transfer raid | OneFootball

Cardiff City pair Ronan Kpakio and Dylan Lawlor are earning interest from the Premier League and beyond

Cardiff City are braced to receive a flurry of transfer interest in much-sought-after teenage duo Ronan Kpakio and Dylan Lawlor, with the pair attracting attention from the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and more after establishing themselves as key performers under Brian Barry-Murphy.

According to a report published by TEAMtalk on Tuesday evening, a number of leading Premier League outfits have joined the ever-intensifying hunt for Kpakio and Lawlor, leaving the Bluebirds to sweat over their immediate futures within the Welsh capital.

Both products of Cardiff's now-glowing youth academy system, the defensive duo were on the periphery last season as Cardiff suffered relegation to League One but have flourished as a result of Barry-Murphy's inclination to entrust, and indeed promote, young talent since taking the job over the summer.

Kpakio and Lawlor are gaining recognition outside of South Wales now, however, and with their reputation as two of the EFL's most promising prodigies only continuing to grow, so too is their list of respective admirers ahead of the upcoming January transfer window and beyond.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool eyeing double Cardiff City transfer raid for Ronan Kpakio, Dylan Lawlor

Recent reports have fuelled speculation surrounding the futures of Kpakio and Lawlor, with journalist Graeme Bailey claiming via X that Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are the latest clubs to join the transfer race for the exciting pair.

Bailey describes that the Bluebirds are now facing a "huge battle" to retain their services, which City supporters may well have anticipated would be the case sooner rather than later.

As per Bailey's actual report, more than half of the Premier League - including the traditional top-six - are regularly watching Kpakio and Lawlor.

It's said that Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United are all emerging as potential destinations for ball-playing central defender Lawlor, whose modern and mature style at a remarkably young age has left him hardly short of admirers.

The 19-year-old even has interest from overseas, with German trio Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig all reportedly monitoring his progression in League One, too.

Kpakio, who only celebrated his 18th birthday back in May, is also the subject of growing interest from elsewhere, with the dynamic full-back finding himself tracked by the majority of Premier League clubs in recent times.

Ronan Kpakio and Dylan Lawlor are vital - Cardiff City must resist top-flight transfer interest in January

Cardiff, the report adds, are "well aware" of mounting interest in the club's two prized assets, with the sanctioning of high-profile January exits firmly not on the agenda for the league leaders as they bid to return to English football's second-tier at the very first attempt.

It's worth noting that Cardiff have handed themselves security over the futures of Kpakio and Lawlor, too, with the latter having been set to see his contract expire next summer before the Bluebirds moved swiftly to tie him down to a new three-year deal.

Kpakio, meanwhile, put pen to paper on a fresh four-year contract, alongside fellow academy graduate Isaak Davies, back in September. Taking such contract action represented extremely shrewd business from the Bluebirds, who now have every right to hold out for significant sums when the phone rings for Kpakio and Lawlor.

For the meantime, Cardiff simply cannot afford to lose either in their pursuit of promotion.

Kpakio and Lawlor are, quite evidently, a few classes above League One - despite the occasional blip, which is only to be expected of two inexperienced campaigners in their first seasons of regular first-team football - and are establishing themselves as top-grade prospects for both club and country, having also entered Craig Bellamy's Wales squad together in recent months.

Kpakio has outmuscled experienced right-back Perry Ng to clamp down the spot as his own this term and has repaid Barry-Murphy's faith with a return of six assists, the joint-highest tally in League One alongside Bolton Wanderers' on-loan hotshot Amario Cozier-Duberry.

Electrifyingly quick with a menacing delivery and ever-sharpening defensive instincts at the other end, the attack-minded right-back has proved his worth as a vital cog in Cardiff's promotion push.

Lawlor, equally, is imperative to Barry-Murphy's possession-based brand of football, with his calm and assured ball-playing qualities as one of the Bluebirds' most integral assets.

Those qualities are now putting him on the radar of England and, indeed, European football's elite, and while it may only be a matter of time before Kpakio and Lawlor graduate onto bigger and better things elsewhere, such is their potential, the immediate focus will be on retaining their services for the season's full duration.