"Bugs me to this day" - Cardiff City, Bobby De Cordova-Reid transfer regret voiced | OneFootball

Our fan pundit has picked out De Cordova-Reid as a player that the Bluebirds sold way too early

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...

Bobby De Cordova-Reid has been picked out as a player that Cardiff City sold too early after he only spent one season playing in the Welsh capital before a loan exit to Fulham that eventually became permanent in January 2020.

Versatile attacker De Cordova-Reid was a key man for Bristol City in the 2017/18 Championship season, and so joined the Bluebirds ahead of their return to the Premier League in the summer of 2018 for a reported fee of £10 million.

He only spent a season in Neil Warnock's playing squad as Cardiff were relegated back to the Championship, but did impress when he was given chances in the team, and looked set to play a big role in their attempt to return to the top-flight in his second campaign at the club.

To many Cardiff fans' surprise, he was instead loaned out to Fulham, who had gone down alongside the Bluebirds, and then joined the Cottagers on a permanent deal in January 2020, for another £10m.

De Cordova-Reid transfer regret voiced by Cardiff fan pundit

De Cordova-Reid's time at the Cardiff City Stadium was short, but relatively successful for him as an individual, as he registered five goals and three assists in 29 appearances and just 18 starts all season.

The forward was, in hindsight, definitely underused by boss Warnock as Cardiff suffered relegation by just two points that year, and FLW's Cardiff fan pundit, Jack Price, named De Cordova-Reid after we asked him for a player that he feels the club sold way too early.

“I’m going to go for Bobby Decordova-Reid. I think the manner of his exit is still something that bugs me a bit to this day,” Jack told FLW.

“So we signed him from Bristol City in the summer of 2018 for around £10 million, and it was off the back of a terrific individual campaign from him.

“He felt like a marquee signing, a very exciting pickup, but it never really clicked for him in the Premier League.

“He only started 16 games, and was still our top-scorer tied with Victor Camarasa, who he was also competing with for a place, but Camarasa was undroppable all season.

“There had obviously been glimpses of what Decordova-Reid was capable of. He was a very talented player, and has since gone on to prove that in the Premier League, when handed those consistent minutes that he didn’t really get here.

“It felt like he was going to really be a key asset after we got relegated from the Premier League, and a player that we were going to build our team around along with Josh Murphy and Kenneth Zohore.

“It obviously didn’t work out for any of those three really. It was really disappointing when Decordova-Reid was sold to Fulham, a direct promotion rival.

“He went there on loan, and then they made it permanent in the January window for the same fee that we paid Bristol City for him.

“You look at what he’s gone on to do after leaving Cardiff, and I think he’s twice helped Fulham to promotion, been a regular in the Premier League for a number of years in a variety of different positions, and proved himself to be a solid, dependable top-flight player.

“He’s one who can provide real moments of quality as well. He’s now at Leicester, obviously whether he stays around in the top-flight for much longer remains to be seen, but he has had a very good career.

“He’s undeniably talented, and that was evident at Cardiff, and it’s a real shame that we didn’t get to see more of that.

“The problem was that he was competing with Camarasa for a spot. I don’t think Neil Warnock really knew how to get him into the team.

“He was never going to be a lone striker, and I don’t know if that was maybe the plan at the time, because we didn’t sign another striker that summer, despite sorely needing one.

“It was just a misfit. Perhaps the right signing at the wrong time.

“Looking at what he has gone on to do, you have got to wonder how the 2019/20 season could have played out had we kept a player like Bobby Decordova-Reid.

“All ifs and buts, swings and roundabouts, but I was personally a massive fan of his.”

De Cordova-Reid was surprised at the manner of his Cardiff exit

The Bluebirds did not spend big on their return to the Championship, instead focusing on signing players from lower leagues or other second-tier teams, and so were expected to retain their key men, such as De Cordova-Reid, in the hope of mounting another promotion challenge.

The Jamaican international featured in Cardiff's first game of the season, as he provided an assist in a 3-1 loss at Wigan Athletic, but under a week later he was a Fulham player, and in Scott Parker's squad for the Cottagers' second league outing against Blackburn Rovers.

De Cordova-Reid and Cardiff fans alike were shocked at the nature of the move, and he revealed the details behind his Bluebirds exit in May 2020 in an Instagram Q&A, via WalesOnline.

He said: "Let me take you back to Cardiff and how that happened because I don't think a lot of people know the story behind it and what happened.

"I know a few Cardiff fans are probably upset with how it happened but I remember we played Wigan in the first game of the season.

"Obviously I didn't play as much as I wanted to the season before in the Premier League, Neil Warnock was the manager at the time, it was down to him.

"I thought if he'd brought me in and wasn't going to play me then I didn't know if I could trust him the next season because the style of play he was playing didn't necessarily suit me.

"The reason I went there initially in the Premier League was because you kind of have to play some football to a certain extent in order to compete.

"In the Championship I wasn't too sure if they were going to revert back to how they'd played before so we had a talk in pre-season and he said he couldn't guarantee me to play games.

"My agent was looking elsewhere to see what he could find and there was interest from Fulham.

"I remember playing the first game for Cardiff, the window was still open, then I came in on the Monday and he told me I could go if I wanted to go.

"It was a massive surprise to me as I thought he might give me a chance to play. Once he said that I knew it wasn't going to work out there.

"I don't know what's been said from that side, but I got told I could leave so I did."

It is clear from those quotes that the Jamaican was reluctant to leave South Wales, regardless of his lack of game-time, and Warnock's decision to let him leave has proven to be a bad one, given his top-flight exploits in the years since.

De Cordova-Reid has gone on to win promotion to the Premier League on two separate occasions with Fulham, and has played over 100 times in the top-flight since his departure from Cardiff.

He still plays in the Premier League to this day, now with Leicester City, while the Bluebirds have not returned to the top-flight since their 2019 relegation.