Cardiff City: Vincent Tan told to demand £10m as Yousef Salech exit fear rises | OneFootball

FLW's Cardiff City fan pundit discussed Yousef Salech's future with the club following relegation to League One

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's relegation from the Championship to League One was officially confirmed as Aaron Ramsey's side played out a 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday afternoon, and all eyes will now go towards escaping the third-tier as quickly as possible ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

The Bluebirds will be playing League One football for the first time since its inception more than 20 years ago, having won promotion from the third-tier through the play-offs all the way back in 2003. A return now beckons, though, the consequence of what has been a wretched and self-inflicted campaign of misery after initial anticipation.

Cardiff became the first team in the Championship to officially suffer relegation when they were held to a draw at home to the Baggies on an afternoon where both Luton Town and Derby County picked up victories, leaving them some five points adrift of safety ahead of the trip to Norwich City on the final day.

The prospect of relegation has long been feared by supporters, who steadfastly believe that repeated failings at boardroom level from controversial owner Vincent Tan alongside Mehmet Dalman [chairman] and Ken Choo [chief executive] have ultimately led them back to the third-tier of English football.

It's hard to argue otherwise, it must be said, when you consider Cardiff's incessant managerial and playing squad turnover, the mismatched recruitment and lack of tangible, decipherable footballing strategy and nous from the top down.

Despite that, Cardiff have undoubtedly struck gold with the January signing of Yousef Salech from Swedish top-flight outfit Sirius. The Danish-born striker arrived in a deal worth an eventual £3.3 million and has hit the ground running, offering Cardiff a fighting chance of survival up until the weekend.

From 19 appearances, 13 starts and only 1,187 minutes of Championship football, Salech has scored on six occasions at a rate of 0.45 goals per 90 minutes.

His evident goalscoring instinct, coupled with a domineering duel-winning prowess, has helped the 23-year-old to swiftly endear himself to the Bluebirds faithful, but could make him a hot property this summer following the side's relegation.

Vincent Tan told to set £10m Yousef Salech transfer demand amid growing Cardiff City exit fear

FLW spoke to our resident Bluebirds fan pundit, Matt Hall, and asked him to name the one player he fears a potential exit for after relegation was confirmed.

Unsurprisingly, Matt shares the wide concern among fellow supporters that Salech could be prized away despite only joining back in January. However, he has caveated that concern by pointing out Salech's own indications of staying put - the forward, who is under contract until the summer of 2029, explained that he wants to remain at Cardiff for a "long time" after the 1-1 Easter Monday home draw with Oxford United - and Matt believes a significant fee will be required to take him out of the Welsh capital.

Matt has urged Tan to demand at least £10 million for Salech, in the hope of either pricing potential suitors out of a move or profiting handsomely on a clear asset with sizable resale value.

He also believes talented midfielder Alex Robertson, who has impressed following his initial £1 million switch from Manchester City last summer, is likely to leave South Wales this summer.

"There are two players, the one I fear [losing] the most is Yousef Salech," Matt told FLW.

"We've looked for a replacement for Kieffer Moore since he left [in January 2022 to AFC Bournemouth] and it appears we found one for a reasonably-cheap fee for his age, being only 23.

"I think the difference between him and a lot of the other reasonable talent we've got that we may lose is that he genuinely cares about the club. He's only been here since late January and he was the one who visibly looked the most affected by relegation on Saturday, he was crying in the arms of Chris Gunter.

"Seven goals since January in this side that has gotten worse since January is a testament to his quality. I think if we were to sell him, it would have to take a lot of money because he signed a four-and-a-half-year deal, so he's got four years left.

"There's no pressure on us to sell him, he's said he's happy here and would happily stay. He's the sort of player who everyone in the Championship would want, someone with a physical presence who is always in a good percentage of winning his aerial and physical duels, but scores goals too.

"His movement, being a fox-in-the-box striker, those are really hard to come by, especially at his age. So I'd be looking at wanting around £10 million personally, you never know what the club actually want but the way they dealt with the Mark McGuinness situation, reportedly getting [up to] £10 million [from Luton Town last summer] for him would now mean they're not going to be forced to sell.

"In terms of the relegation affecting the sales, it all comes down to whether Vincent Tan is happy to fund the losses that we're going to get from relegation and whether he's going to use player sales to do so. It's unknown at this point in time as to what he's going to do because he has no communication with us, but Salech is the prized asset of this team alongside close-second Alex Robertson.

"If you're looking at who may go, I think it will be him."

Cardiff City could lose a number of players this summer

When assessing this Cardiff squad, which boasts a litany of high-profile individuals and a wage bill estimated to be, staggeringly, the seventh-highest in the Championship, it's easy to see why supporters are anticipating something of a mass exodus.

Salech and Robertson are the two widely-tipped to depart, but others are sure to follow. Cardiff may well fear exits for the likes of Calum Chambers, David Turnbull, Callum O'Dowda and top scorer Callum Robinson, while someone like ex-QPR winger Chris Willock, rightly or wrongly, could also be unwilling to try and redeem his Bluebirds career below the Championship.

Retaining Salech is a huge call of duty that could just have a decisive say on the outcome of Cardiff's bid to return to the Championship at the very first time of asking, but if he does decide to leave, it's likely he will not be alone in that.