Cardiff city urged to retain Ollie Tanner despite Chris Willock swoop | OneFootball

Ollie Tanner enjoyed a breakthrough season for the Bluebirds last season, but could find himself on the fringes of the first team squad in 2024/25.

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Cardiff City have made some eye-catching signings in the transfer market recently, as they look to put themselves among the Championship's promotion contenders next season.

The Bluebirds have completed their first couple of deals of the summer window over the last few days, with a double free agent swoop of Chris Willock and Calum Chambers respectively.

Willock has proven himself as one of the most dangerous widemen in the division when healthy with QPR, whilst Chambers brings a wealth of Premier League experience to the Cardiff City Stadium.

But for young winger Ollie Tanner, the signing of Willock in particular may have him questioning the size of his role in manager Erol Bulut's plans for 2024/25.

Ollie Tanner is "different to what" Cardiff have

Football League World's Cardiff City fan pundit, Ben Johnsey, believes that the 22-year-old Tanner offers something to the Bluebirds' squad, and questions whether a loan move would make sense for him this summer.

Johnsey said: "I definitely think Ollie Tanner should have a place in Erol Bulut's side. He's shown signs last season of being a good squad player, and I think that's what he is.

"I don't think that another loan move is necessarily going to aid him too much. He's definitely an alternative off the bench, he's different to a lot of the wingers we have, he's a different winger in general.

"He's not the quickest, but he has a lot of skill to him, and I think that he's a player that can offer something off the bench, in either a winger role or a full-back role - which he did well in both at times last season."

Signing from non-league side Lewes in the summer of 2022, securing Tanner's signature was seen as a sizeable coup for Cardiff, after the youngster had seen a move to Tottenham Hotspur fall through in January.

The promising winger was sent out on a brief loan to York City in the second half of the 2022/23 season, before returning to Cardiff, where he would make an impression on Bulut during pre-season.

Tanner was brought into the first team fold at the start of last season, and was even able to score his first professional goal in a 2-0 win over Swansea City in the South Wales Derby.

However, his early season form would begin to stagnate, and he was even omitted from the first team squad entirely in February and was made to briefly play in the academy, after Bulut wanted to ensure he had the 'right characters' in the Cardiff dressing room.

Willock's injury history should see Tanner stay

Strength in depth is vital for any club, especially those who harbour ambitions of challenging for promotion.

The Championship is a relentless and ruthless division, and injuries are a regular occurrence. Therefore, it's crucial that a manager can call upon quality backups should the starter be forced to sit on the sideline.

Despite Willock's undisputed talent and effectiveness at Championship level, the 26-year-old failed to stay fit for an entire season in any of his four years as a QPR player.

As such, Tanner may well need to be called upon by Bulut on multiple occasions once again next season, after enjoying a 23/24 Championship campaign that saw him make 36 league appearances, with nine of those being starts.

The last thing Cardiff City will want to happen is to see a promising season be derailed due to not having sufficient squad depth to cover injuries and suspensions, and Tanner has proven that he can make an impact when given the nod.

Tanner should also see Willock's shaky injury record as an opportunity to snatch a starting role in Bulut's squad, and if/when he's afforded that opportunity, he could have the chance to make it very difficult for Willock, or indeed anyone else, to take it from him.