Steve Morison feels Cardiff City must bridge the gap between the old and the young in this summer's transfer window to allow the burgeoning Bluebirds Academy aces to develop at the right time.
Cardiff's squad at the minute is one of extremes, with half the players pushing 30 or past that landmark, while the other half are almost all eligible to turn out for Darren Purse's under-23s.
There are some exceptions, with Ryan Wintle, Perry Ng and Dillon Phillips in their mid-twenties, but Morison believes there is still too much of an age disparity.
The manager confirmed the first-team squad next year will be younger than the one he has at his disposal this year, with a core group of academy players filling up a decent chunk of it, but said there is a bridging process which has to be undertaken in the upcoming window too.
"There will still be a mixture, it will just be different to how the squad is now," he said of how he wants the Bluebirds to look next term.
"When we played against Coventry, that was one of the youngest starting line-ups we have had.
"You forget how young some of the players are now, people like Mark McGuinness, you think they're a bit older than they are. He had a tough paper round, Macca!
"The market we have looked for the loan players, they are younger players, and we want a core group from the academy, which we have got here. But they still need to work incredibly hard to make themselves stalwarts to be picked in the team.
"We need bridge the gap. We need a more blended group. We need to have a few older heads.
"Perry (Ng) is the only one who is actually in the middle ages. You go top end and then we go really young. We need to bridge the gap of the whole squad.
"That's what we will be looking to do, have a more blended group, which will really help the younger players at the bottom end to develop at the right time and not to have too much pressure on them."
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Youngsters such as Isaak Davies, Oliver Denham and Jai Semenyo have put pen to paper on new deals, but there has been no talk of senior stars extending their stay just yet.
Ten of them are out of contract this summer.
Morison confirmed there is no movement on that front just yet.
"We haven't done any more on them yet," Morison said.
"There are conversations happening. As and when they finish, you will know. There is nothing in the pipeline in the near future."
Morison made the point once again that the financial landscape across the board will facilitate just how much money is available for wages next term.
He stated that the days of offering large wages to play for Cardiff City are in the past and fully understands if stars want to turn down offers to stay in the Welsh capital for more lucrative offers elsewhere, even if it lower down the football pyramid.
"You need [agents]. You need them to work with you, but their interest is for the player and themselves," he said.
"For me, my conversations with them is to tell them how it is here. Because there is a perception with what's gone on before. It's not happening any more.
"I’m really comfortable with all of it. As long as I tell them how it is, if they decide not to buy into it then what will be will be, we will move on to the next one.
"That goes for the people in the building. If people in the building want over and above what I think they deserve right now then they won't be here and they can go and find their way.
"If you don’t want to be a Championship player with Cardiff because you would rather go and play in League One or League Two and get more money, that’s fine by me. I know where I'd rather be."
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