Swansea City will be relieved they lost January 2021 transfer battle to Cardiff City | OneFootball

Swansea and Cardiff battled it out for the signing of Max Watters in January 2021

With the January transfer window in full swing, Swansea City and Cardiff City will be scouring the lower leagues for talented players they think can step up to the Championship.

Signing players from Leagues One and Two offers them a chance to pick talented players up on relatively cheap deals – something both clubs have had success with that in recent seasons.

Whether it was Swansea signing the likes of Harry Darling and Josh Key from League One or the Bluebirds signing Perry NG and Ryan Wintle from Crewe Alexandra, the two Welsh clubs have found some hidden gems in the lower EFL divisions.

However, it doesn't always work out, just as Cardiff discovered in January 2021 after beating Swansea City to the signing of Max Watters, much to the delight of their supporters at the time.

Swansea City and Cardiff City were locked in a battle to sign Max Watters

The 2020/21 season saw Swansea in the mix for Premier League promotion, while Cardiff were enduring a tough campaign under Neil Harris, who was later replaced by Mick McCarthy, after reaching the play-offs a few months prior.

Both clubs were looking to bolster their attacking ranks, and Crawley Town striker Max Watters appeared on both of their radars, with the young striker enjoying a successful season in League Two.

Watters had signed for Crawley in the summer of 2020 after struggling for minutes at Doncaster Rovers and it didn't take him long to make an impact for the Red Devils, taking League Two by storm.

The then 21-year-old bagged 16 goals in 19 appearances for Crawley, 13 of which came in League Tw and the two Welsh clubs were keen to secure his signature in January 2021.

Despite only joining Crawley a few months prior, the Sussex-based side were resigned to losing him to a Championship side and knew it was a great opportunity to cash in for a big fee by League Two standards.

It was Swansea who made their interest clear first, with Steve Cooper keen to add firepower to his squad in a bid to secure Premier League promotion.

However, finances were proving tight for the Swans, and with Crawley demanding a fee of £1million plus, they were reluctant to fork out that sort of money.

It came as a huge shock just days later when it emerged that Swansea's bitter rivals Cardiff had beaten them to Watters' signature, seemingly out of nowhere, leaving Bluebirds supporters delighted and the Jack Army despondent.

Watters' decision to join Cardiff appeared to be a huge blow, but Swansea would have been glad to miss out on the striker as things transpired.

Swansea City will have been glad to miss out on signing Max Watters

It looked like a coup for the Bluebirds to secure Watters' signature, but it proved to be anything but.

Over the course of his two-and-half-year stay in the Welsh capital he played just 22 games, finding the back of the net once, and he became a huge figure of frustration amongst supporters.

He made just three appearances during the 2020/21 campaign, before being loaned to League One side MK Dons in the summer of 2021.

He impressed in Buckinghamshire, scoring seven times in 14 appearances, and he was recalled to the Welsh capital in January 2022.

The recall looked an inspired move when he scored against Bristol City in his first game back at Cardiff, but he struggled for minutes across the rest of the campaign, making just seven further appearances, and was substituted in the first half after a poor display against Coventry City.

The Bluebirds boss stated "he just wasn't good enough", and he was left out of the squad for the next 11 games.

Watters was given the chance to be Cardiff's main man for the 2022/23 season, but after failing to score in all 11 of his appearances, he was loaned to Barnsley in January 2023, before making the move to Oakwell permanent the following summer.

It brought down the curtain on a miserable spell in Watters' career, and there weren't too many Cardiff supporters who were sad to see the striker depart.