Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Friday, July 15.
Cedric Kipre deal edges closer
Cardiff City are closing in on the capture of West Brom defender Cedric Kipre on a season-long loan deal.
WalesOnline learned on Thursday that the Bluebirds were interested in taking the 25-year-old centre-back on loan before Steve Bruce revealed the player was close to sealing a move away from The Hawthorns.
Cardiff have been looking to bolster their centre-back options all summer following the departures of Aden Flint and Ciaron Brown, while Sean Morrison is still on the treatment table.
And they are edging closer to the signing of Kipre, a ball-playing centre-half who will add yet more mobility to a squad which has been revamped during this summer window.
West Ham kid signs for Sunderland
Former Cardiff target Aji Alese has completed a permanent move to Championship side Sunderland.
The Bluebirds were keen admirers of the centre-back, 21, having scouted him on a number of occasions before sounding out the Irons over a potential loan deal for the player.
However, Cardiff were told that West Ham wanted a permanent move away for the centre-back, something which has come to fruition as he joins the Black Cats on a permanent deal.
Alese said: “It’s amazing to be here and I’m happy the deal is done. I live five minutes away from West Ham’s training ground and I’ve been there since the age of eight, so it could have been easier to stay but life isn’t easy and I’m ready for the challenge.
"I spoke to Alex Neil, Kristjaan Speakman and Stuart Harvey and I got a great feeling about Sunderland AFC. This is the place I want to be, so now it’s time to crack down and get ready for the new season.”
Arsenal starlet joins Birmingham City
Another Bluebirds defensive target, Auston Trusty, has joined Birmingham City after Cardiff feel they fell victim to a new FIFA transfer ruling.
It is understood Cardiff had profiled USA under-23s international Trusty for more than a year and were suitably impressed and were growing confident of landing his signature. The Bluebirds held positive talks with Arsenal as well as the player's representatives and were of the belief they were leading the race for the 23-year-old and Cardiff was the preferred destination.
Arsenal were pleased with the direction in which Cardiff were going this season and the manner in which they looked after their loan players last year, with everything seemingly pointing towards a deal being struck for the player.
However, on Thursday Birmingham City announced that had won the race for the defender's signature. Cardiff appear to have fallen victim to a new FIFA transfer ruling which inhibits their ability to sign loan players due to them essentially being branded a "foreign" loan. FIFA's new rule, which came into effect on July 1 this year, states a club can only loan a maximum of eight players aged 21 or over to different associations at any one time and the same applies to the number which can be loaned in. The problem is set to be compounded in the coming years, with the maximum dropping to seven in 2023/24. It will then be cut to six indefinitely from 2024/25.
As we have previously reported, it's believed two potential Cardiff loan signings this summer have already stalled because of the ruling.
And we can now reveal Trusty was one of the those targets. The Gunners were open to sending the defender to Cardiff, however, given their huge squad, the international loan spaces available to them are valuable and they believed the more logical option was to allow him to join Birmingham on loan.
New Emiliano Sala podcast to be released
A new BBC podcast series is set to be launched relating to the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Emiliano Sala.
The nine-part series, which is called 'Transfer: The Emiliano Sala Story', will have exclusive input from Sala's family and friends, as well as new insight into pilot David Ibbotson. It will also include words from Sala himself about his transfer to Cardiff City.
Kayley Thomas, who presents the show, said: "I’d never heard of Emiliano Sala before his disappearance became global news. But after three-and-a-half years of meeting and speaking to his closest friends and family, I now understand why his death resonated beyond football.
"Here was a genuinely lovely man, who really cared for his family and would go the extra mile for friends, on the cusp of playing in one of the world’s richest football leagues. Yet the flight he ended up on reflected none of that. His death was a tragedy in the truest sense. In Transfer we will guide listeners through the many layers of this story - revealing details that are both shocking and heart breaking."
U21s to start pre-season campaign
Cardiff City under-21s start their pre-season campaign with a friendly against Carmarthen Town tonight.
The game, which kicks off at 7.30pm, will see City travel to Richmond Park and will also see Cardiff play under the new "under-21s" name, rather than "under-23s", which it has been in recent years. This is due to a change to Premier League policy.
Speaking ahead of the fixture, under-21s boss Darren Purse said: "From a U21s point of view, it's been really encouraging to see a number of players that have been around the first-team squad. Which is great to see both in training and in games. It's a massive positive for pre-season.
"Training has been good, with some recruitment still being ongoing and the squad starting to take shape in the weeks to come. We came back in for training around the same time as the First Team, so it will be nice to get these pre-season games started.
"I'm a big believer in getting your fitness from games; building your base in training and getting match fitness from playing.
"I can't see many of the lads playing the full 90 minutes on Friday night, but it will be a good introduction back into playing games, where hopefully the work that we've put in already can hopefully get us a result, laying some foundations for the matches to come."
Cardiff welcome new first-year scholars
Rabbi Matondo's younger brother Japhet Mpadi is among the new group of scholars to have been welcomed into Cardiff City's academy setup for the 2022/23 campaign.
Twelve youngsters have becoming first-year scholars and academy head David Hughes, who it emerged on Thursday will leave the club soon, said: We are extremely excited by the potential of our scholarships group. There is a positive atmosphere and great enthusiasm from the boys and coaching team for the coming 12 months.
"As always, it will require a resilience and exceptional attitude to commit and overcome any obstacles that may appear along the way.
"We have no doubt, that we can support the individuals in achieving success in the next step of their journey. Good luck to all the boys!"
Mpadi is joined by Tanatswa Nyakuhwa, Louis Phillips, Joshua Beecher, Cole Fleming, Trey George, Cody Twose, Daniel Barton, Dylan Lawlor, Luey Giles, Will Spiers and Luke Armstrong.
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