Cardiff City will have one eye on Oxford United exploits: View | OneFootball

Welsh international forward Mark Harris has been in fine form for Oxford United recently after his summer move from Cardiff City.

The 25-year-old left the Bluebirds upon the expiration of his contract last summer, and Oxford moved swiftly to add him to their ranks.

With experience of both Championship and international football, it looked a good move for the club on paper and so it's proved, with Harris finding form in recent weeks, scoring four times in the U's last two games, and registering an assist too.

Despite some patchy goalscoring form during his first few months at the Kassam Stadium, if his recent form is anything to go by, then the club are beginning to see the best of Harris, and former club Cardiff may be watching on enviously, particularly with their striker struggles recently.

Mark Harris' time at Oxford United

After making 95 appearances for the Bluebirds between 2017 and 2023, Mark Harris' deal at the Cardiff City Stadium expired last summer, and he was a victim of the upheaval at the club over the summer.

Sabri Lamouchi took over at the club in January 2023, and led the club to Championship safety, and he wished to keep the out of contract Harris at the club, according to Wales Online.

However, Lamouchi himself only had a short-term deal with the Bluebirds, and the club took the decision not to keep him at the club, and they appointed Erol Bulut instead.

This meant that Harris was unable to work out a new deal with the club, and left last summer.

This obviously came as a blow to the Swansea-born forward, but it's been a real blessing in disguise and the move to Oxford has been the best thing for his career.

Other than missing three games through suspension in September, Harris has featured in every single game he's been available for across all competitions, and has started all but one league game he's been available for.

In total,

His tally of 17 goals is already more than he scored in 95 games for Cardiff, where he registered just 10 goals for the Bluebirds.

At Cardiff, Harris was perhaps unfairly seen as a grafter and a solid player, but someone who was unable to be a prolific goalscorer.

However, he's shown at Oxford that he can certainly score goals, and his four goals in the club's last two games against Fleetwood and Burton Albion proves that he's been a great signing for the U's.

He's the club's top scorer this season, and you'd be surprised if there wasn't a slight hint of regret at Cardiff City that they let him leave, particularly for nothing.

Despite not being prolific at Cardiff City, Mark Harris has shown at Oxford United that he could well be prolific with a good run of games behind him.

Cardiff have hardly been free scoring this season either, despite improvements under Erol Bulut.

Bulut has made the Bluebirds tough to break down, and they're a threat from set pieces, but they don't create all too much from open play and their top scorer is right-back Perry NG, which speaks volumes.

January signing Famara Diédhiou has scored just once, Kion Etete has scored just three Championship goals, Callum Robinson just twice, and Karlan Grant is the club's joint top scorer with six goals (Transfermarkt).

This shows that Cardiff's strikers have been poor, and in hindsight, Mark Harris may have been a better option than a fair few of the aforementioned players at the club.