Cardiff City's transfer window was a whirlwind of activity.
The Bluebirds saw 21 players leave the club, while 17 new players were brought into the building. It's been one of the biggest squad overhauls in recent memory and, as such, there are those who have benefitted and others who have perhaps seen their stock fall.
Here, we take a closer look at what the window meant for the club and its players...
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Winners
Steve Morison
When the transfer window closed, and the final capture of Callum Robinson was confirmed, it was abundantly clear that the vast majority of Cardiff fans were pleased with the club's work. A large share of that acclaim can be given to Steve Morison, the manager whose vision of a bold, new squad has been carried out to a tee.
With a shoestring spending budget, spending just £2m, £1.5m of which was on the final day, Morison has managed to get in some exciting young talent, players with Championship pedigree and other hungry players looking to make the grade in English football's second tier.
It's been a summer of incredibly hard work, one which Morison himself said took away any semblance of a normal summer holiday for him, round-the-clock work, countless Zoom meetings and agent phone calls. It's been one hell of an undertaking but, at 11pm on transfer deadline day, he would have rightly been rightly proud of the work he did.
Vincent Tan
There is no doubt that Vincent Tan has been waiting the best part of two years for the opportunity to trim down Cardiff's squad and bloated wage outgoings.
He has managed to do that this summer, having given Morison and his staff a very strict budget to work within. Cardiff have slashed their wage bill by half, according to those at the club, while still managing to maintain a Championship-level squad.
After putting in so much money during his decade-long tenure, Tan's leisure business was hit hard in the pocket by the pandemic and few could begrudge him wanting to be a little more circumspect when it comes to forking out premiums. But, while we have only eight matches of evidence to go on so far, he will likely be pleased with the bang he has got for his buck and the club is looking far more sustainable now.
Style of play
On the pitch, the biggest winner has been the style of play. Yes, this comes with the caveat that certain things are still not clicking just yet, goalscoring is an issue, too, but the marked change of play has been pleasing for most fans.
As highlighted by WalesOnline this week, the Bluebirds are tracking near the top of the division in statistics for possession, passing and dribbling, metrics they would scarcely have looked at in seasons gone by.
There is work to be done to convert this aesthetically more pleasing side into a winning machine, of course, but at the very least, the football is far more in-keeping with the modern game and, eventually, it is the brand of football which will get you promoted out of this division, if executed correctly.
Max Watters
A number of players have personally benefitted from the summer window, but few more so than Max Watters. Cardiff saw Uche Ikpeazu and Jordan Hugill leave for their parent clubs at the end of last season, while James Collins was sold off to Derby County.
It meant that Watters, who has little Championship pedigree and a poor goal record in the division so far, has been entrusted with the first-choice striker tag. That is some show of faith from the manager, who has placed a sizeable amount of responsibility on his shoulders.
It is likely that the signing of Robinson will displace him from the starting lineup, with Watters having started all eight games for the Bluebirds without scoring a goal, but even so, he is still battling for that shirt. The manager clearly sees something, enough to only sign one striker at least, and that will be a huge boost for the player. He needs to repay the favour with goals sooner rather than later, though.
Losers
Academy players
More through necessity than design, but last season saw Cardiff usher through an unprecedented number of academy players. It was refreshing to see, but there was certainly an over-reliance on them.
This season it looks like fewer and fewer academy players will be afforded the opportunity to break into the side, at least as we look into the near future. Morison has plugged all the holes which were filled by academy starlets at times last season, but perhaps that is a positive thing - it means the under-21s players will have to be exceptional to force their way into the reckoning.
Given the level of recruitment in each position, you do wonder how much game time previous academy graduates such as Ollie Denham, Isaak Davies, Rubin Colwill and Joel Bagan, who we will come on to, will see in the coming months.
Joel Bagan
As touched on above, it's been a tricky window for Joel Bagan. Last season, he was given the No.3 shirt and was told he was the first-choice left-back, but after some inconsistent performances, he was ousted by Ryan Giles and then, later, Alfie Doughty.
His purple patch back in February and March saw him score three goals in three games and it looked as though he was on an upwards curve, but after the South Wales derby defeat by Swansea City, his form suffered an end-of-season dip.
Jamilu Collins' signing from SC Paderborn appeared to be manna from heaven, a player who quickly became a fans' favourite in that left-back position before a nightmare ACL rupture against West Brom. Bagan was handed his chance in the next game against Bristol City, but suffered a head knock inside the first 10 minutes and was forced off, which was rotten luck.
Cardiff acted quickly to replace Collins and signed Everton prospect Niels Nkounkou, who looks like a real handful, at least offensively, and has usurped Bagan in the pecking order. It must be a frustrating time for a player who will be wanting to get a volume of games under his belt now.
Jack Alnwick and Dillon Phillips
It looked unlikely at one stage that Ryan Allsop would be a Cardiff player, but not to worry, the club thought, Jak Alnwick is the perfect man for the job.
Indeed, when Alnwick came down from St Mirren, he probably thought he was recruited as the club's new No.1. Alas, it's not transpired that way, with Allsop eventually opting for a move to Cardiff and the former Derby County shot-stopper has been very good so far, both with his hands and his feet, and is the club's preferred goalkeeper.
Allsop's arrival also knocked Dillon Phillips down another rung of the ladder. At the very least, Phillips thought, he would be No.2, battling with Alnwick for the gloves, but now he finds himself, in the final year of his contract, on loan and on the bench out in Belgium with KV Oostende.
Curtis Nelson
As things stand, Curtis Nelson is, at minimum, the fourth-choice centre-back at the club. Perry Ng and Cedric Kipre have established themselves as the first-choice pairing, while Jack Simpson looks to be next in line.
Indeed, even Oliver Denham has been in matchday squad more recently than Nelson, who endured a nightmare start to the season, having given away a penalty against Reading and having been directly responsible for two goals in the 3-0 defeat by Portsmouth in the Carabao Cup clash.
Nelson has now not been included in the last six games and the arrival of both Kipre and Simpson appear to have knocked him a fair way down the pecking order, although his own performances have saw to that, too. It must be difficult for him to stomach, given he has been first choice for more than two years. But Cardiff are moving in a new direction, one which is not conducive to his strengths, and he is in danger of being left behind.
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