Cardiff City manager Steve Morison has said he would sign Jed Wallace "in a heartbeat" and "there will always be an offer on the table" for his old friend, but is realistic about the number of clubs who will be chasing the Millwall star's signature.
In recent days the Bluebirds have been linked with the 27-year-old wide man, who is out of contract at The Den this summer. Many might think that links between Morison and Wallace are simply due to their Millwall connection, but the Bluebirds boss played down the veracity of the reports.
Morison has spoken frequently about the fact that he and his recruitment team will have to sell the vision and the project of Cardiff City this summer, rather than offer bundles of cash to attract players to the Welsh capital. And while he would never turn down the chance to sign one of the Championship's top operators, who has six goals and 11 assists to his name this term, he accepts that it would be a stretch to land him in the transfer window.
READ MORE: Cardiff City will have to go full moneyball this summer if they are to build a successful squad
"I would sign Jed Wallace in a heartbeat!" Morison told WalesOnline. "But I’m sure Millwall don’t want to let him go. They will do everything they can to keep him. If he does leave as a free transfer in the summer, he is 27, top of the assists, Millwall’s best player - since I’ve left! I’m joking, well I’m not and he knows it.
"There won’t be a team in the Championship or, I presume, the lower end of the Premier League, who won’t want to take him. There will always be an offer on the table for Jed, it will just be a lot less than what he’d be offered elsewhere!
"It’s not a conversation we’ve ever had. We have many a conversation every now and then when he wants advice or a chat, but we haven’t spoken about him coming to Cardiff unfortunately."
Cardiff could sign between 10 and 15 players this summer, that is the scale of the project at hand. The Bluebirds are trying to chop down their wage bill drastically and the sort of money which will be on offer to sign for Cardiff will be nowhere near what they were once able to offer.
But Morison added that he does not believe that to be too much of a hindrance, if his conversations with agents and prospective targets so far are anything to go by.
The Bluebirds boss has said that he is interested in the characters who are hungry for the challenge and buy into the end goal at Cardiff, rather than those chasing the Yankee dollar, to quote David Brent.
"A lot of people are interested in the project," he added. "There are players I’ve spoken to that I know in the game who have had offers of a hell of a lot of money, but that’s not what they want. They want to go and achieve something and be part of something and win promotion.
"The likes of Jed Wallace. He could get money but he’s not interested in that. He is interested in the Premier League or getting promoted to the Premier League, being a part of something.
"It’s been twofold. There are the ones where agents have spoken to clubs across the board and the money is similar. Then others say they can get money elsewhere. I say fine to that, my offer will be on the table for a month, if you decide you still want to look elsewhere, don’t ring me back in two months because you couldn’t get better elsewhere. We will move on.
"That’s just where we are. We are being very strategic with what we are doing. Not just getting a list of left-backs and picking which one I can get. It’s about the type of player in a position and working through the list, that’s how we are doing it.
"We want to build a brand for Cardiff that people want to come and watch and see the team win. That’s the plan but it’s all talk until we see people come through the door."
