Cardiff City have planned meetings with a glut of Premier League clubs over the next week as they look to ramp up their transfer activity and get their business locked in early.
The Bluebirds cannot afford to start next season sluggishly, which they have done the last three years, and Steve Morison wants all his ducks in a row by the end of July as that first game comes around.
Morison has already said that Cardiff will utilise the loan market again this summer, just as they did by filling up the allotted five loan spaces in January, and believes the Bluebirds can get that extra bit of quality from the top flight at a fraction of the price. They will need all the quality they can get if they are to make a better fist of it next season.
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It is understood that Cardiff have scheduled meetings with Southampton, Crystal Palace, Arsenal, West Ham and others over the course of the next week with a view to putting their own name in the conversation when it comes to who they loan their young stars out to this summer. It comes after they sent delegates to Chelsea u23s v Brighton u23s this week to touch base with the right people at those clubs.
The Bluebirds are keen to offer the next crop of young talent at these Premier League clubs a home next season in deals which they hope will be mutually beneficial for Cardiff, the loan club and, of course, the players.
Cardiff will have eyes to fill spots and plug gaps all over the pitch and that is seemingly the case with the names which have been mentioned to WalesOnline.
One name which will be familiar to many is Andi Zeqiri at Brighton. The Swiss centre-forward has 12 appearances for the Seagulls, nine of which came in the Premier League last year, before the club sent him off to Augbsurg in Germany this term. The 22-year-old has two goals in the Bundesliga this season.
Zeqiri has seven caps for the Swiss national team and, on the face of it, it might be viewed as an ambitious target for Cardiff, but the player is understood to want regular football, given almost half of his 21 appearances for Augsburg have come from the bench this term. He would likely be guaranteed a starting spot at Cardiff, too, with none of City's forwards having majorly impressed this term.
Another player in the conversation is West Ham defender Aji Alese. The centre-back, who has played for England at every level from under-16s to under-20s, has just a solitary Carabao Cup appearance to his name for the Irons and will no doubt be seeking a loan away to gain some much-needed Football League experience.
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The 6ft 3in defender has had two loan spells, one at Accrington Stanley and another at Cambridge United last season, however he didn't get the game time required during their promotion season.
It's notable Alese is left-footed, a quality Cardiff don't have at centre-half with Ciaron Brown set to leave the club all together in the summer. Dmitri Halajko, who managed Alese at West Ham's u23s, said Alese is "quick, good on the ball, he has a nice left foot, good range of passing and defends well in one-on-one situations". Defending those one-on-ones is an asset Cardiff are understood to be looking for to aid Morison's plan of being able to play four at the back.
The player, who also played at left back for Accrington, showing his versatility, has also been praised for his leadership skills, something Cardiff sorely lack, especially among the younger group of players coming through.
This season Alese has been an ever-present for the Irons' under-23s, who sit second in the Premier League 2 table behind only Manchester City. He has played 30 games for the u23s, the most of any player, and chipped in with three goals.
The above is not an exhaustive list, of course, and Cardiff will unlikely be the only club in for these young talents, but it at least gives a flavour of the sort of targets the Bluebirds are likely to go for this summer and the calibre of player they are looking at.
At the very least, it shows that Cardiff are working quickly and proactively behind the scenes to ensure their pre-season plans come to fruition as quickly as possible to give themselves the best chance of hitting the ground running next term. Expect this all to click into top gear when the Derby County game next week is, finally, done and dusted.
