Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Monday, June 27.
Bluebirds linked with £1m-rated international
Cardiff City are reportedly tracking Northern Ireland international Paddy Lane.
The 21-year-old Fleetwood Town midfielder, was being watched by West Ham towards the end of last season after a campaign in which he scored five goals in 39 games, winning the League One Young Player of the Season award in the process.
A versatile player, the youngster, who has five senior caps for his country, has been deployed at central midfield, attacking midfield, left wing and right wing during his time with the League One club. He has also operated as a wing-back, too.
Read more : Cardiff City new boy Andy Rinomhota has matured into an 'excellent' midfielder with Premier League potential
Lane has one year left on his contract with Fleetwood, with The Mirror claiming Cardiff City and Hearts are keen on landing his signature. The report adds, however, that he is valued at £1m, which might price Cardiff out of a deal.
Lane joined Fleetwood from seventh-tier Hyde last summer.
Joe Ralls links up with squad in Scotland
Joe Ralls has been pictured with his new Bluebirds team-mates for the first time after travelling with the squad to Scotland following the signing of his new deal.
The midfielder did not train with the Bluebirds during their first week of pre-season last week, with the player's contract situation still not resolved. But the positive news came on Saturday that the 28-year-old had signed a two-year extension with Cardiff, which was met with widespread glee among the City fan base.
And he has travelled with the club, and their nine new signings, up to Edinburgh, where they are undergoing a week's training at the Oriam complex used by the Scottish Rugby Union, Scottish FA and Hearts.
A series of photos released by the club's official Twitter account included a photo in which Ralls was very much front and centre.
Marlon Pack 'really disappointed' with end to Cardiff stay
Marlon Pack has revealed how bitterly disappointed he was at how his Cardiff career came to an end.
Having been a mainstay for the best part of two-and-a-half seasons, he was essentially bombed out of the squad in January and didn't play a single minute in the last four months of the campaign, something of a rarity in his career.
He has now joined his first club, Portsmouth, in League One and is hoping to bounce back up to the Championship at the first time of asking. Indeed, the 31-year-old midfielder could well line up against some of his former team-mates when City take on Pompey in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
But, speaking to Portsmouth News, Pack has opened up on how tough the back end of last season was to take. "At one point last season I was on the verge of breaking 500 league games and closing in on 600 overall – that’s what annoyed me the most," he said.
"At Cardiff, we weren’t doing as well as a team but I thought individually I was doing all right. I think I give quite an honest assessment of myself and my performances, probably I’m actually more harsh than I need to be at times.
"But we were struggling, the manager changed the team, mixed it around a bit, and was trying to tinker for a winning formula. I was out of the team, the lads went on a good run and from there he found his side.
"It hasn’t happened to me before, I’ve had a good run in the sense of being a mainstay in the team, but it is what it is, you’ve got to learn from it.
"Steve Morison’s a young manager who wanted to bring in young players, phasing all the experienced players out. I was on the bench for a bit, but in the end didn’t make the squad.
"Previously I hadn’t made a squad once or twice in my whole career, so it was frustrating, really frustrating, so I kind of wanted the season to end. You are training every day without that carrot on a Saturday, without that competitive edge, which most athletes crave.
"I’m pretty robust, I’ve had one injury in my career, which I did at Cardiff. It was a grade three hamstring, which is a freak one considering how I play, but even then I was back after six weeks. In all fairness, how it finished at Cardiff allowed the heads up for me and my agent to sound out teams quite early on – like Pompey."
Vincent Tan opens up on Gareth Bale pursuit
Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has revealed Gareth Bale "really wanted to come" to the Bluebirds at one stage this summer but accepts Los Angeles FC's offer and commercial clout was simply too much for the Wales captain to turn down.
There was a stage, though, it seemed, when Cardiff were confident about landing his signature, with Tan himself revealing Bale was very interested in securing a move to the Bluebirds at one stage.
"We were very very keen, he would have been a big coup for us," Tan told talkSPORT. "It would have been great for Gareth Bale to play for his hometown, all the Welsh would be very happy if Gareth Bale returned home and played for Cardiff.
"Personally, I think LAFC's offer was too attractive for him to turn down. But originally he really wanted to come, the money wasn't the matter. We came up with what we thought was a good offer to him, but finally it was very hard to compete when there is a lot of big American advertisers, a lot of commercial deals which were very good for Gareth Bale.
"We tried our best but we failed."
He added: "Initially with Gareth, it wasn't really the money, he just wanted to help Cardiff and help Wales. That's why we could negotiate with him. He tried his best to join us but eventually I think the offer from LAFC was just too big to turn down." You can read the full story here.
Loic Damour leaves Hearts for fourth tier in France
Former Cardiff City midfielder Loic Damour has agreed to terminate his Hearts contract and head back to France.
The Frenchman was part of Neil Warnock's side which won promotion to the Premier League, but was promptly sold to the Edinburgh club upon relegation from the top flight in 2019.
And it has now been revealed that Damour will leave Hearts, despite having a year left to run, to link up with Versailles FC, a semi-professional team which has just won promotion to the fourth tier for French football.
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