Cardiff City told to "aim higher" and pursue Leeds United option instead of Liverpool player | OneFootball

One of the Reds' youngsters is a reported option that the Bluebirds are considering this summer.

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 are one of a number of clubs that are said to hold an interest in Liverpool midfielder Luca Stephenson.

Brian Barry-Murphy's side got off to a winning start under their new head coach, beating Peteborough United 2-1 at the Cardiff City Stadium at the weekend. That's not to say that everything went swimmingly, though, as the club look to address some of its weaknesses in the final weeks of the transfer window.

According to the Liverpool Echo, young midfielder Stephenson has popped up on their radar. The centre-midfield, who has played both as a right-sided midfielder and at right-back across his two previous loan spells with Barrow and Dundee United, is available for another temporary switch this summer.

As well as the Bluebirds, a further five teams, including their bitter rivals Swansea City and his former side Dundee, have also been linked with the 21-year-old by the Echo.

Cardiff City sent transfer warning about Liverpool target

Matt Hall, Football League World's Cardiff fan pundit, isn't massively inspired by the potential move for the Liverpool youngster. He feels that other areas of the squad need more addressing than the positions that Stephenson can help out in.

"[My] initial feelings are that he's probably not the sort of player that I'd be looking for, personally," said Hall. "[He's a] blend of a right back and a defensive midfielder, maybe be a bit of central midfield, but those are all positions that generally we don't need.

"We do need to bring in some loan players. We do need cover in certain areas, but with right back, we've got Perry Ng and Roman Kpakio. Young player, old player; good blend there. Defensive midfielder, we've got Ryan Wintle and Eli King, a good blend of experience and youth there.

"And again, in central midfield, we have got a number of bodies and I think if we were to bring someone in, I'd rather it be someone a bit more proven, a bit more higher level.

"We have had some links to Darko Gyabi of Leeds on a permanent. That would be something I'd be more interested in than this guy here.

"Obviously, any player that we bring in that Barry-Murphy has identified as being someone who could develop, he'd have full backing of him to do so."

The City fan pundit wouldn't be overly anxious, however, about the chances of star midfielder Alex Robertson leaving if his side were to bring in a player like the Aussie, who has been linked with a return to the Championship this summer. Hall sees David Turnbull, 26, as a more likely option to exit if someone like Stephenson is signed.

"In terms of a move from a midfielder, would it make me worry about Alex Robertson leaving? Potentially.

"Obviously, if we were to bring someone in on a permanent, for example, and you're obviously paying a fee and you'd have to offset that with a sale. I would maybe suggest that there is more likelihood that David Turnbull was to leave [rather] than Alex Robertson.

"A lot of the speculation with Alex Robertson comes from the fact that he hasn't played much in pre-season, but that's just due to an unfortunate injury. Whereas with David Turnbull, maybe someone would [go for him]. The price tag is a little bit lower than Alex Robertson.

"We've already rejected something near £6 million. So you'd be saying that we're probably looking for a bit more and would anyone pay that? Probably not.

"But with David Turnbull, we would probably want to just get back the £1-2 million that we paid for him, and I think that's a lot more attainable for a lot of clubs. So if a midfielder was to go, I reckon it would be him, not Alex Robertson.

"I do think we'll bring a midfielder in, but, for me, I think we can aim a bit higher than Luca Stephenson."

Cardiff shouldn't be prioritising Luca Stephenson move

Looking through Cardiff's squad list, unless they are worried about losing Robertson, Turnbull, and maybe others, it's not easy to see why a centre-midfielder like Stephenson would be on their list of targets.

Sure, his tactical flexibility would come in handy for any team around their level, and a lot of Barry-Murphy's recent background is in working with under-21s teams. There just isn't an obvious spot for him to slot into the side and get regular minutes in the way that his parent club would hope for.

League One clubs are allowed to have a maximum of four loanees on their books at any time. Cardiff won't want to potentially waste one of those on a player that, as things stand, may not see the pitch that often.