Cardiff City must not panic following Kieffer Moore, Hull City development: View | OneFootball

Hull City's agreement to sign Kieffer Moore is not as much of a blow as it may seem for Cardiff City

Cardiff City's seemingly-perennial pursuit of Kieffer Moore looks to finally be approaching a conclusion, with the Welsh international forward set to join Championship rivals Hull City from Bournemouth.

Moore enjoyed a fruitful 18-month spell in the Welsh capital after signing from Wigan Athletic in 2020 and became the first Cardiff player to score 20 league goals in a single campaign since the late, great Peter Whittingham in 2009/10.

He's also the most recent player to have amassed double digits in goals for the Bluebirds, which is both a damning indictment of Cardiff's low hit-rate with strikers in recent years and a justification of their repeated attempts to strike an ambitious return for Moore.

The towering frontman moved on to Bournemouth a year-and-a-half after his arrival and scored four goals in as many games to help propel the Cherries back to the Premier League in the latter stages of the 2021/22 season, but that was about as good as it's ever been in Dorset.

Moore has rarely figured into Bournemouth's Premier League plans, and Cardiff have spent the last twelve months trying to take advantage of just that.

Cardiff attempted to broker a loan return on two separate occasions, firstly last summer and then in January, but he ended up joining Ipswich on loan in the winter window and weighed in with seven strikes - one of which came against his former side - as they achieved an improbable top-flight promotion under Kieran McKenna.

Therefore, it felt inevitable that Cardiff would rekindle their interest one last time this summer and that's exactly what happened as a report from Darren Witcoop once again linked them to the 31-year-old.

However, recent developments from Hull seem to have now put paid to the Moore transfer saga - and Cardiff fans may just breathe a sigh of relief now it's all over.

Cardiff City

According to Barry Cooper of HullLive, the Tigers are closing in on the capture of Moore on a three-year deal.

It's understood that terms have been agreed between Moore and Hull, although there's no current indication of the transfer fee that Tim Walter will be shelling out.

Moore currently has one more season to run on the three-and-a-half-year deal he signed with Bournemouth after joining from Cardiff, but he will be swapping the south coast of England for East Riding of Yorkshire.

Cardiff City should not panic following Kieffer Moore, Hull City news

Although Cardiff remain in dire need of additional reinforcements up top, it's not time to press the panic buttons just yet.

All things considered, a three-year contract for a player set to turn 32 next month doesn't appear to be the wisest judgement call from Hull.

It's simply not worth pursuing someone who doesn't want to be part of the project either, and you got the impression that Moore was never really captivated by the prospect of returning to Cardiff.

Cardiff also have 22-year-old striker Isaak Davies to call upon next term, who is returning from a productive loan spell with KV Kortrijk of the Belgian top-flight and will be vying to stamp down his authority on the Championship.

The Bluebirds academy graduate scored 12 times last season, rendering him deserving of frequent first-team opportunities that would've likely been prohibited had Moore signed.

That's not to say Cardiff should keep their eggs in one basket with Davies; he's still largely unproven at Championship level and it would be a tall order to solely place the goalscoring burden on his youthful shoulders.

Granted, they must still bolster their striker stable, but on reflection, how much long-term upside is there to signing a soon-to-be 32-year-old centre-forward when there's a homegrown one 10 years younger and fresh off the back of a prolific top-flight campaign?

Even though there's still little contest to the immediate impact that Moore likely would've had, his age means that decline is inevitable before long and his impending transfer to Hull perhaps isn't a disaster for the Bluebirds after all.