When shiny new attacking players waltz into the building during a mid-season transfer window, it's quite easy for others to slip under the radar. That has perhaps been the case with Ryan Wintle at Cardiff City.
While praise has been warranted for the classy Manchester City loanee Tommy Doyle, the lightning-fast, marauding wing-back Cody Drameh and Premier League striker Jordan Hugill, the return of Wintle from his loan at Blackpool has been as positive a move as any other in January.
He arrived with little fanfare back in the summer. He was on a free transfer after leaving a League One club — Crewe Alexandra — and was added to a midfield stable which was already incredibly-well stocked. With Mick McCarthy clearly having favourites in the middle of the park, it was difficult to get excited about the 24-year-old moving to south Wales.
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There were few complaints, really, when he was sent on loan to Blackpool in the summer. In fact, it led many to question why Cardiff had even signed him in the first place, given he was so far down the pecking order, but McCarthy insisted he was one for the future. Bluebirds supporters were sceptical, to say the least.
But from day one he earned rave reviews up at Bloomfield Road. Indeed, when the January window was coming around, the talk among Seasiders was whether they would be able to take advantage of his vulnerable position within Cardiff's squad in order to sign him on a permanent basis, in the winter or in the upcoming summer window.
Steve Morison, however, had other ideas. For all the positive work Morison and the recruitment team did in the January window, Wintle's recall has to be right up there with one of the better moves.
The player's return and subsequent integration into the starting line-up serves to highlight the seismic change which has been undertaken during Morison's stewardship. Marlon Pack and Leandro Bacuna, both lightning rods for frustration for many fans, have been banished from recent matchday squads and Wintle has been slotted in above them all to nail down that starting spot at the base of midfield.
It typifies the shift in mentality and playing style. Wintle is deceptively quick, neat with the ball and moves the play at a lovely tempo. He is not laboured, as many branded Pack to be, or rash and untidy, as Bacuna has sometimes shown himself to be in a Cardiff shirt.
Speaking after the win over Derby earlier this month, Wintle, who has played the full 90 minutes in all but two of his 14 league appearances since returning in January, said of Morison's contract extension: "It's great for everyone, it's great for me, obviously, because he's playing me every week, so I'm happy with that. The results have got a lot better, he deserves it, so hopefully we can win a lot more games next season.
"He has just given us more belief and he is making us all believe we are good players. We are getting the ball down and passing it to each other, because that's ideally where you want to play - you don't want to be a team that just whacks it all the time, or whatever. If we can start getting it down more and play, while winning games, it comes hand in hand then and would be perfect for everyone."
Wintle has been key to that shift in playing style and, with a summer of huge change ahead — you can read more about that here — will play a big role next season, too. The midfielder has shown himself to be an important part of this project at Cardiff City and it is testament to him given the whirlwind start to his Bluebirds career.
He has been the player Cardiff have been crying out for since dropping down from the Premier League. A fleet-footed central midfielder who can mop up and get back when City are being hit on the break but one who is also equally adept at ensuring a smooth transition from defence to attack.
This writer thought that, with Sheffield Wednesday dropping down to League One, Barry Bannan would be a smart signing last summer. Despite the potential stumbling block of being the wrong side of 30, he was heading out of contract and fitted the mould of player Cardiff desperately needed to control more games and start playing more controlled football. Alas, Bannan signed a new deal and is enjoying a good season in League One with the Owls.
Wintle must add a few more goals to his name if he is to have the sort of career Bannan has had, but he certainly looks like a player who could do that quite easily. He could very feasibly grow to become that influential player Bannan has been at Hillsborough for so many years.
With Pack, Bacuna, Joe Ralls and Will Vaulks all out of contract in just a few months' time, it is not inconceivable that Wintle is the only central midfielder over the age of 21 still left at the club come June. He will quickly transform from outcast to the team's heartbeat within a matter of months if that is the case.
Undoubtedly Cardiff will be adding in that department in the summer, of course, but it does shine a light on just how quickly things can change in this game and how readily chances must be taken. Wintle himself knows the scale of the challenge over the coming years, which he will be at the heart of, but he is now hopeful that he, along with an encouraging group of youngsters and a manager doing all the right things, can fulfil his dream with the Bluebirds.
"Things don't always work out [as you planned]," he said last month. "You can only look towards the future. If we can keep putting results together now then we can go into next season on a positive note and that would be brilliant, because you never know what can happen in this league.
"One of the reasons I signed for this club is because I want to kickstart my career and hopefully that is with this club. This club is a massive, massive club and the aim is to get to the Premier League again. In my three years here, I hope we can do that.
"The team now has got a lot more youth in it, it's brilliant to see and hopefully they will get better and we will all get better as a team."
