Cardiff City have been hit with three major injury blows which could force them to alter their immediate transfer plans.
The Bluebirds came into this season light on goals and needed to address that area if they were to improve on their 12th-place finish last season.
Erol Bulut has sought to bring in a striker and did so in the form of loan signing Wilfried Kanga. However, Bulut has now revealed that Isaak Davies faces four months out with a hamstring injury and Kion Etete, also a hamstring, will miss three months.
That will come as a significant blow for Bulut, who is now left with only one recognised striker in Kanga, a player with a mixed track record and who has never played in this league, while Callum Robinson and Yakou Meite represent auxiliary options, although the former has impressed with six goals in pre-season.
Delivering more bad news, Bulut also said left-back Jamilu Collins will face a spell on the sidelines.
“Kion is injured, Isaak is injured and JC is also injured from the last game in Austria against Hertha,” Bulut said after the match. “It looks like Isaak Davies will be out for four months, Kion will be out for three months, and with JC, six to eight weeks.
“These were the negative things, but football is like this.”
Mark McGuinness missed Saturday’s 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers, but Bulut insisted that was simply precautionary due to the centre-back feeling a “muscular problem”.
Nevertheless, the lengthy injury lay-offs of both Davies and Etete in particular could prove cause for concern and may just force Bulut into the transfer market for another striker. While Bulut has admitted he would like to stay away from loan signings if possible, a temporary addition could work well for all parties as a stop-gap amid these injury concerns.
The priority for Bulut has been to add a midfielder, with Manchester City’s Alex Robertson understood to be a player they are keen on, plus another defender. However, the latest injury bulletin might flip all that on its head.
It’s an utterly cruel blow for Davies in particular, who has suffered with a number of unfortunate injuries in his short career to date. He missed two pre-seasons with injury before he was sent on loan last year and he showed what he could do, with 12 goals in the Belgian league, and was ready to hit the ground running back at his boyhood club this term – but that will now have to wait deep into the winter months, it seems.
At left-back, well Cardiff do have Callum O’Dowda, although like Collins the Irishman does also struggle with injuries. Ollie Tanner has filled in there, however, so, too, has Joe Ralls, while young Luey Giles, who turns 18 today, has seen his stock rise in recent months. Joel Bagan and the currently-injured Ryotaro Tsunoda are also obvious options there.
Anwar El Ghazi is also back in Holland, Bulut revealed, with the Bluebirds’ latest signing absent from the Rovers game to witness the birth of his child. He will also need time to get up to speed, however.
“His wife is pregnant, they are expecting a baby. I hope everything will be OK,” Bulut added. “He will be back, I think, on Monday to training and then we can start to work.
“He has trained on his own, but it’s not the same as team training, so he needs a little bit (of time). We have to be patient with him.”
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