Cardiff City should beat Bolton Wanderers & Derby County to Chesterfield, Armando Dobra transfer raid | OneFootball

The Bluebirds should look to join - and win - the race for Armando Dobra of Chesterfield

Despite accumulating a strong points return in the opening five matches of the League One campaign, Cardiff City supporters will be hoping their squad is further bolstered with less than a week of the summer transfer window to go.

Unsurprisingly, the pressure is firmly on the Bluebirds to get out of the third-tier at the first time of asking after a dismal relegation campaign in the Championship last term, and Brian Barry-Murphy's side have delivered thus far, taking 13 points from the 15 on offer after defeating fellow promotion favourites Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

The Irishman has made the South Wales side much more resolute in defence, with his team yet to concede from open play in the league thus far, yet despite netting seven goals and having a handful of extremely talented and experienced creative outlets among their ranks, more must be added between now and September 1st to ensure this early-season form can be maintained across the remaining 41 encounters.

And, with plenty of sides scrambling for players of a similar ilk, it feels like a no-brainer for Cardiff to join an already stacked transfer battle in the race to sign Armando Dobra of Chesterfield, although they would have to fend off significant competition in order to do so.

Chesterfield's Armando Dobra is currently the subject of eight-team transfer battle

Dobra is one of League Two's hottest properties at present, and has unquestionably been a key reason in the Spireities continuing to ride the crest of a wave ever since their return to the EFL last year.

The former Ipswich Town man has accumulated 36 goals and 15 assists in 136 games for the North Derbyshire side - including a tally of 13 goals and two assists in all competitions last season as Paul Cook's side reached the League Two play-off semi-finals.

The wide man has continued in such a manner in the early weeks of this season, scoring twice whilst also averaging 2.8 shots per game, and he could have added more to his tally after missing two big chances - this is no real cause for concern though, as the former Albanian youth international continues to get himself in the required areas for creative output.

Unsurprisingly, such form has caught the attention of as many as eight EFL sides, which include the Championship trio of Derby County, Portsmouth and Oxford United, as well as some of Cardiff's divisional and promotion rivals in League One such as Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and Luton.

Therefore, it makes ample sense for Barry-Murphy to have the 24-year-old on his own transfer radar and not have the fear of potential transfer regret later in the campaign.

So far this term, Barry-Murphy has experimented with a handful of formulas when it comes to his wide players, but Cardiff are still crying out for a player who is known for taking on opposition full-backs in a direct manner and subsequently carrying a goal threat.

Ollie Tanner has recently been sidelined for four months and whilst Chris Willock netted the all-important winner against Luton last weekend, he offers the Irish head coach a completely different skillset to that of Dobra, who can often use his individual pace, trickery and speed of thought to cause plenty of havoc and unpredictablity, and a player of such qualities can be decisive in a promotion race.

Given the potential bidding war which is reportedly set to occur on top of the fact Dobra signed a contract extension in February, it may take a significant sum of cash and persuasion to see Cardiff lure him to their rebuilding project over a maiden Championship move, but it is an option that has to be explored.