Cardiff City may always wonder 'what if' with potential Jaden Philogene, Aston Villa deal | OneFootball

In another timeline the Bluebirds may have landed a historic signing

Jaden Philogene impressed during his one-season stop at Cardiff City in 2022/23, but the club may hold some regrets looking back.

He was a first-team regular in the Championship for the Bluebirds during that campaign, suggesting he could have made an impact on a more permanent basis.

But Cardiff were under transfer restrictions at the end of that term, blocking any potential attempt to try and land Philogene on a more permanent basis.

Looking at what he went on to do after leaving Cardiff City Stadium, the Bluebirds will always wonder what could have been had they been able to land the winger.

Cardiff City kick-started Jaden Philogene's career

Struggling to break into a rising Aston Villa side, he spent the latter half of the 2021/22 season with Stoke City but, due to a mixture of injury and selection issues, only managed to start six games.

Nevertheless, he had shown enough promise in the 500+ minutes he played in the second tier for the Potters to convince Cardiff to look at a loan of their own for Philogene.

Landing him for the full season, he got plenty of opportunities in the first team, earning 25 starts and a further 12 substitute appearances in the Championship, scoring four goals and providing one assist.

Philogene certainly hadn’t reached his full potential, but he had shown enough to warrant further investigation, and Cardiff knew he might be available on a permanent deal from Villa.

Cardiff City were unable to pay transfer fees and could not sign Jaden Philogene from Aston Villa

Given that Philogene still had another year to run on his Villa deal when he was with Cardiff, the Bluebirds were immediately ruled out.

They were blocked from paying transfer fees for players under an EFL ruling that coming summer, owing to a late payment of the transfer fee for Emiliano Sala, who tragically died in the process of signing for Cardiff in 2019.

The sanction meant that the Bluebirds could not pay a transfer fee for a player until the January 2024 window.

That same summer, he signed for Hull City for a fee of £5m.

Cardiff City will look Hull Ciy, Jaden Philogene deal with envy

On the face of it, £5m was a hefty fee for Hull to pay given Philogene’s level of experience, but it wasn’t an amount of money out of Cardiff’s league, having spent more than double that for Josh Murphy in 2018.

It also proved to be worth every penny for the Tigers.

He went on to score 12 goals – one of which nominated for the Puskas Award in 2024 – and provide six assists in 32 appearances that campaign, but to make things even better, Villa bought him back again just a year later for £13.5m.

In the space of a year, Hull City had benefitted from Philogene’s genius on the pitch and more than doubled their initial outlay on the winger.

Given Cardiff would have been in prime position to convince Philogene to commit his future to the Bluebirds – where he was getting regular minutes, and they likely could have afforded his fee – it must have been difficult to watch Hull become the true beneficiary of his talent.

It will leave all associated with Cardiff wondering what might have been, had they been able to sign the Philogene that summer.