Football League World
·25. Juli 2024
Cardiff City: Erol Bulut comments on Leicester and Man City player pursuits
![Artikelbild:Cardiff City: Erol Bulut comments on Leicester and Man City player pursuits](https://image-service.onefootball.com/transform?w=280&h=210&dpr=2&image=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic0.footballleagueworldimages.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F07%2Feb-km-ar-ccfc-social.png)
In partnership with
Yahoo sportsFootball League World
·25. Juli 2024
The boss has been very open about his side's summer dealings.
Erol Bulut hopes that Cardiff City will have signed at least a couple of players before the end of the week, and admitted that the Bluebirds are looking into deals for both Kasey McAteer and Alex Robertson.
Only two new names have been brought to south Wales since the transfer window opened - Callum Chambers and Chris Willock. Both are certainly at least solid players, but those two on their own won't be enough to get Bulut and his team to where he wants them to be.
He has previously admitted that he won't be fully happy until he has got to the highest levels.
The boss laid out his plans for the window over a month ago, with two centre-forwards, a winger, a centre-back and a midfielder being the main target areas, as per Paul Abbandonato.
There's a hope that some more additions will be made in the coming days.
Bulut has said that Cardiff have held talks with a few potential targets, and that he wants to get some of those deals done ASAP.
"We've had contact with a few players and we were negotiating with them," said the boss, via Wales Online. "Now we are closer with a few players. I am thinking by the end of this week, we're hoping to sign two or three players.
"We are not far away because it's only about now finalising the deals. It’s not easy to finalise everything with players that we want to get. Sometimes it stops on the club, sometimes on the players, the agent. So we try to handle it well for now.
"We saw in the game against Hamburg how the team delivers things. We are in a good way and with the new players that will increase our level.
"I hope at the end of this week we can finalise at least two of them but we are close and it could be three. For now if we get those players I think we will be nearly done but you never know we still have time until August 31 and everything can change."
Two reported targets that Cardiff are looking at are McAteer and Robertson. The Leicester City winger has been linked with a loan move to City, as has the Australian Manchester City midfielder.
Bulut has confirmed that they are looking at deals for them both, but that they aren't the only ones they are looking at.
"Not only those two players we have a few players on our list. In the press they are mentioned very often and many times, those two players. It is not easy to get that quality of players.
"Sometimes you want players but some small issues come in you have to handle that. For sure they would be a good addition on our system for the team. But as I said, they are not the only two names on our list we have a few others on our list. We cannot only focus on special names."
Portsmouth are also keen to get Robertson. He was loaned to Fratton Park at the start of last season and really impressed before picking up a major hamstring injury in January which ended his season.
Through the early stages of the season, City were one of the surprise packages. They were near the top six, which was a largely unpredictable achievement given their near-miss of relegation in the previous campaign.
Bulut clearly has ambitions to make that the Bluebirds' regular spot in the Championship table, after they fell down towards mid-table by the end of the term.
It was always going to be hard for them to really challenge those above them with the squad that the Turkish coach had to work with previously, but it seems they have realised the potential of their boss and are trying to really back him.
McAteer just won the league with Leicester, and Robertson, at least partially, helped Pompey to do the same. Those types of signings are ones that are made by a team that believes that they could be close to those play-off spots at least.