Cardiff’s business in the summer transfer window is completed

Neil Warnock has managed to recruit six players this summer in preparation for Cardiff’s first season back in the Premier League, four of which came at the start of pre-season. Camarasa & Arter have signed on transfer deadline day as Warnock sought other options to bring in central midfielders, following a failure to sign Marko Grujic from Liverpool.

Transfers in:

Player	Transfer fee	Previous club	Position
Greg Cunningham	£4m	Preston North End	Left back
Josh Murphy	£11m	Norwich City	Winger
Bobby Reid	£10m	Bristol City	Forward
Alex Smithies	£3m (rising to 3.5m)	QPR	Goalkeeper
Victor Camarasa	Season-long loan	Real Betis	Centre midfield
Harry Arter	Season-long loan	AFC Bournemouth	Centre midfield

A quick look at all of the new signings:

Greg Cunningham

Aged 27, 6ft, Irish international Previous clubs include Preston, Bristol City, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City & Manchester City A reliable left back who has been one of the most consistent players in the Championship for the past 3 years, offering strong competition to Joe Bennett for a first team place. He hasn’t played for the Republic of Ireland since 2013 but a continuation of his quality at Premier League level will surely be enough to earn him a call up.

Josh Murphy

Aged 23, 5ft8, former England U20 international A pacy, skilful winger with a keen eye for goal, Murphy bagged 11 goals and 3 assists for Norwich last year. His twin brother, Jacob Murphy, is also a professional footballer who plays as a winger. They played together at Norwich for four years before Jacob moved to Newcastle in 2017. Josh has played a season in the Premier League once before, in the 2013/14 season, the same year Cardiff were relegated. Norwich were also relegated the same year.

Bobby Reid

Aged 25, 5ft7, English born Bobby has spent most of his career at Bristol City as well going out on loan to Cheltenham and Oldham, before 3 different loan spells at Plymouth. He was one of the best strikers in the Championship last season, scoring 19 league goals in 46 games. He also netted 2 goals for Bristol City in the League Cup. They got to the semi-final, eventually losing to Man City over two legs. He was named in the Championship team of the year, along with Sol Bamba. As well as playing as a striker, he is also capable of playing at the tip of the midfield diamond in the no.10 role.

Alex Smithies

Aged 28, 6ft1, former England U19 international He’s only played for two different clubs in his career so far, Huddersfield and QPR. Smithies has been linked to a number of Premier League clubs throughout his career, but this season will be his first chance to play at the top level. He kept 7 clean sheets in 43 games for QPR last year, averaging 2.16 saves per game. His average claim success was 95%. Comparing to Etheridge who made 2.09 saves per game and had a 97% average claim success rate. He will be eager to battle for the no.1 spot with Etheridge.

Victor Camarasa

Aged 24, 6ft, former Spain U21 international He signs from La Liga outfit Real Betis on a season-long loan. He has also played for Levante and Alaves. Camarasa is a box-to-box midfielder who will bring more physicality to the current midfield. He was on the bench against Cardiff last week in their final pre-season friendly but did not make an appearance due to playing against Bournemouth the previous day. He has played with the likes of Marco Asensio, Hector Bellerin and Gerard Deulofeu for Spain’s U21 team.

Harry Arter

Aged 28, 5ft10, Irish international Arter has spent the last 8 years of his career at Bournemouth, as well as spells at Carlisle, Charlton, Woking, Staines and Welling. He joins Cardiff on a season-long loan. He can play as a holding midfield player, with strong attributes in tackling and passing. Although he didn’t feature much for Bournemouth last season, he has been a Premier League regular since their first season at the top in 2015. Arter will be vital in Cardiff’s bid to stay up this season, offering Warnock a good option for the defensive role in midfield.

Cardiff’s squad list looks like this:
Goalkeepers: Neil Etheridge, Alex Smithies, Brian Murphy

Central defenders: Sean Morrison, Sol Bamba, Bruno Ecuele Manga, Matt Connolly

Full backs: Lee Peltier, Jazz Richards, Greg Cunningham, Joe Bennett

Central midfielders: Joe Ralls, Aron Gunnarsson, Loic Damour, Victor Camarasa, Harry Arter, Callum Paterson, Lee Tomlin, Stuart O’Keefe

Wingers: Josh Murphy, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Junior Hoilett, Kadeem Harris

Forwards: Kenneth Zohore, Bobby Reid, Danny Ward, Gary Madine, Anthony Pilkington, Rhys Healey

Four of those players have to be cut from the list to finalise Cardiff’s 25 man Premier League squad, and it would be likely be four of the following:
Rhys Healey, Stuart O’Keefe, Matt Connolly, Anthony Pilkington, Lee Tomlin, Kadeem Harris.

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