The disastrous £8m Cardiff City investment that will still haunt Bluebirds supporters: View | OneFootball

Highlights

When Cardiff City fans are asked to name the club's biggest ever flop signing, one answer usually springs to mind.

The answer is usually Andreas Cornelius. The ex-Copenhagen striker endured a truly torrid six-month spell in the Welsh capital during the 2013/14 season after the Bluebirds paid a then club record fee of £8million to acquire the 20-year-old's services, according to Wales Online.

The Danish striker was being paid £45,000 a week, a lot of money for a newly-promoted club in 2013, as Cardiff chairman Vincent Tan revealed at the time according to BBC Sport.

How did Andreas Cornelius perform at Cardiff City?

After the Bluebirds' promotion to the Premier League in 2013, the club decided they needed to bolster their squad to ensure they were competitive in the division and recruited the likes of Gary Medel from Sevilla, Steven Caulker from Tottenham and Andreas Cornelius from Copenhagen.

The Danish striker was Cardiff's first ever Premier League signing, signing a five-year deal at the Cardiff City Stadium. It was understood that with add-ons, the transfer fee paid for Cornelius was almost £11m and with his £45,000 a week salary over the five-years plus a £1.25million signing on fee, Cardiff had committed to a total outlay of over £20million, according to BBC Sport.

However his spell at Cardiff was an unmitigated disaster. Cornelius picked up an injury in pre-season, meaning he missed the beginning of Cardiff's Premier League campaign before making a return to fitness in his first start for the club in a League Cup tie with Accrington Stanley. It proved a costly night for the club as he re-aggravated his previous injury and was stretchered off before half-time.

He'd return in November and play just a handful of games before the January transfer window where he'd fail to score in any of them. He made just 11 appearances in total, scoring no goals.

On January 31st 2014, Cornelius returned to Copenhagen on a deal worth £3million, meaning Cardiff lost a reported £8million from the £11million total fee they paid for him.

His signing had huge ramifications for Cardiff, with head of recruitment Ian Moodie sacked in October 2013 and manager Malky Mackay following him out of the door just two months later. Cardiff would go on to finish bottom of the league and were relegated.

How has Andreas Cornelius got on since leaving Cardiff?

The striker returned to Copenhagen and made an immediate impact, scoring on his second debut. He'd finish with 5 goals from 14 for the second half of the 2013/14 season.

The ex-Cardiff man would score 23 goals in 78 appearances across three further seasons in the Danish capital before earning a move to Serie A outfit, Atalanta.

Cornelius would score just three goals in 23 appearances for the Italian side during the 2017/18 season before being loaned to Ligue 1 side Bordeaux the following season.

While in France, he found the back of the net just three times across 20 appearances and was subsequently loaned to fellow Italian side Parma by parent club Atalanta. Over the course of a two-year loan, he scored 13 goals in 55 appearances for the northern Italian side.

Ahead of the 2021/22 season, he'd join Turkish outfit Trabzonspor and his 16 goals in 41 appearances helped the club to their first league title in 38 years.

Now 30-years-old, Cornelius finds himself back where it started with a third spell at Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga. He's gone on to have a decent career since his disastrous spell in south Wales, but he'll always be remembered on these shores for being one of Cardiff's worst ever signings.