This Cardiff City factor will surely concern Alex Robertson & Yousef Salech - It’s not convincing | OneFootball

There are reasons for two of Cardiff's most-prized players to be concerned about their club's inertia in the transfer market ahead of the new season.

Cardiff City are the only League One club not to have brought in any new players this summer, and this is something that will concern two of their most-prized current assets, Alex Robertson and Yousef Salech.

Cardiff were relegated from the Championship in bottom place at the end of the 2024-25 season, but if the club considers that their first-team squad needs an overhaul ahead of their return to League One, they're not showing many signs of it.

The Bluebirds are the only League One club to have not brought in a single new player over the course of the summer, and this is a concern, considering how poor their form was in the closing weeks of last season and the fact that there is just over a week left until the start of the new season.

This sort of inertia at such a time will hardly be encouraging for the players who are still with the club, because it could start to feel as though the club don't even want a quick return to the Championship.

Cardiff are among the pre-season favourites to get promotion back to the Championship next season, and their financial muscle should be enough for them to assemble tools to do so, but they're not giving much impression of wanting to extensively rebuild their squad despite the extent to which it malfunctioned last season.

Cardiff City's star duo Alex Robertson & Yousef Salech are too good for League One

Cardiff's most prized current players are midfielder Alex Robertson and forward Yousef Salech. Robertson has been on the books at both Manchester United and Manchester City, while Salech was something of a revelation for the club after signing for them in the January transfer window from the Swedish club IK Sirius, scoring eight league goals in 20 games, despite his team sinking to the very foot of the Championship.

These are two players who have demonstrated that they can more than hold their own in the Championship, and it is therefore reasonable to assume that they won't want to hang around in the third tier for very long. And the strength of their performances last season means that there would be no shortage of interest, were they to want a move away from the club.

Indeed, Robertson's signature is already one of widespread interest in the Championship. Just last month, the technically-gifted 22-year-old midfielder was said to have interest from 12 unnamed second-tier clubs, including former side Portsmouth and one recently relegated from the Premier League, along with admirers in the MLS and mainland Europe.

Robertson is, for now, a Cardiff player - and a hugely important one of that - but you do have to wonder if the club's lack of strengthening in the transfer market is really going to convince him to stay put, with plenty of time still remaining to seal a switch away from the Welsh capital.

Cardiff are standing still while others move decisively in the transfer market

While Cardiff City have not been active in the transfer market, their rivals certainly have. Of the two other clubs relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2024-25 season, Plymouth Argyle have brought in ten new players, including Brendan Wiredu, Bradley Ibrahim and Aribim Pepple, while Luton have brought in eight.

They're not the only likely competitors that Cardiff will face next season. Stockport came close last season finishing third before losing in the play-offs, while Huddersfield and Bolton have been extremely busy in the transfer market as well and may have a stronger challenge in them than they did during 2024-25. With Birmingham and Wrexham promoted by a long distance last season, there is every likelihood that League One will be considerably more competitive this time around.

It's difficult to believe that players of the quality of Alex Robertson and Yousef Salech wouldn't be watching their club's lack of activity with some degree of disquiet. Cardiff weren't good enough in the Championship last season. That much was reflected in the final league standings.