"Unhappy" claim made on 12-goal Cardiff City star - He's been tipped for a summer exit | OneFootball

Football League World's resident Cardiff City fan pundit discussed which player he believes will be most unhappy 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 will likely be bracing themselves to see a number of high-profile first-team players seeking exits from the Welsh capital this summer after the club suffered relegation to League One at the end of the 2024/25 Championship campaign.

It is often a natural course for sides relegated from the Championship, but may be particularly pertinent in a squad which, as per Capology estimates, had the division's seventh-highest wage bill last term.

Although chairman Mehmet Dalman has revealed that a number of "core" players intend on staying put to help the club's bid for promotion out of the third-tier at the first attempt, and that Cardiff are under no direct pressure to asset-strip, it remains inevitable that at least some high-profile members of the squad will depart before the conclusion of the summer transfer window.

In general, supporters are naturally speculative at this time of the year, of course, and more so at Cardiff, considering the club's plunge into the unknown and the influx of on and off-field changes set to take place in the coming weeks and months. One player widely-tipped for the exit door is Callum Robinson, who scored 12 Championship goals for the Bluebirds last time out but saw his action and minutes diminish in the latter stages of the season owing to both injury setbacks and the electric goalscoring form of fellow striker Yousef Salech following his move from Swedish side Sirius in January.

Robinson joined Cardiff as a marquee £1.5 million arrival from West Bromwich Albion under Steve Morison at the start of the 2022/23 season, but only enjoyed his finest goalscoring campaign as the Bluebirds were relegated.

He has had a mixed spell overall, redeeming himself and becoming something of a hero after scoring three goals in two matches against fierce rivals Swansea City in 24/25, having been an outcast under Erol Bulut in the season before.

Cardiff have security with Robinson, who put pen to paper on a new two-year contract back in January. However, that has done precious little to ease the feeling of inevitability that he will seek pastures new ahead of Cardiff's first third-tier campaign in more than 20 years.

"Unhappy" Callum Robinson tipped to seal Cardiff City transfer exit

Football League World asked our resident Bluebirds fan pundit, Matt Hall, to name one player he believes isn't too happy with the situation right now and could be seeking a summer exit.

Matt promptly went with Robinson, and he believes the Republic of Ireland international's perceived desire to be "the main man" will likely see him move on between now and the end of the summer.

"I'm obviously speculating quite a bit here but, if there is one player I would think is more unhappy than anyone at the club at this moment in time, it would be Callum Robinson," Matt told FLW.

"There are a multitude of reasons for this.

"Robinson has been here since 2022 and, under Steve Morison, was brought in as the main striker. He was, for a period of time, and then he was sidelined through injury later in that season and Sory Kaba became the main man.

"The season after that, we brought in two strikers and Erol Bulut didn't see him as a striker, he saw him as a number 10. They didn't get on one bit, he had a poor season, and it looked like he was going to head out the door.

"He was sort of seen as a player with a bad attitude, a bit of a flop. It just didn't work out with him.

"At the start of last pre-season, he really knuckled down and got to it. He came back a different player, he had the fire and fans really brought into him. He scored the equaliser in the South Wales Derby and, it's fair to say, the fans were back in love with him.

"Robinson scored 12 goals last season. The most recent one - well it wasn't very recent - was at [home to] Hull and he was seen as the savior of our season, but as the season went on and January came, he scored a brace in the South Wales Derby but in the same game, Yousef Salech made his debut.

"A few days later, Salech was scoring the equaliser [against Millwall] and he never stopped there. The goals kept coming and injuries kept cropping up for Robinson and he didn't score many more after that South Wales Derby.

"I think he will be the most unhappy because, first and foremost, we got relegated and he's obviously now at a level he will probably feel is beneath him.

He scored 12 goals, but doesn't really get talked about.

"He is the sort of character where he wants to be the main man and the one people focus on and, for the second time in his Cardiff career, it's actually another striker getting all the headlines and not him.

"I'm not saying he's an egotistical player, but that is the vibe you get off him and I think he will be trying to get out now to try and be the main man somewhere else and prove himself."

Callum Robinson is not as important to Cardiff City as he once was

Matt raises an interesting point about how, at one stage last season, Robinson was widely deemed as Cardiff's saviour. When fully fit, he was all-but-indispensable in the first-half of the season and was among the top goalscorers in the Championship, a remarkable feat in light of Cardiff's fortunes.

However, his importance has waned in recent months.

Now, it's all about Salech, who has already proven to represent exceptional business from the Bluebirds and is the fan favourite, goal-getting talisman that Robinson once was, scoring eight goals from his first 20 Championship appearances.

Retaining Salech's services could have a huge say on the direction of Cardiff's bid for promotion next term, but you get the impression that the outcome of Robinson's immediate future may not be quite so decisive.

That's not to say Cardiff should be looking to move Robinson on - his goalscoring pedigree over the years at Championship level suggests he would be rather prolific in League One - but whether the ex-Sheffield United and Preston North End forward would want to stay in any case, let alone in a likely secondary role behind Salech, feels unlikely at this stage.