http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23479981 Cardiff City have Etienne Capoue bid accepted by Toulouse Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay hopes to conclude "delicate" negotiations to sign midfielder Etienne Capoue after having a bid accepted by Toulouse. The Premier League new boys are thought to have offered close to £9m but must convince the 25-year-old France international his future lies in Wales. But Cardiff expect to complete the signing of Brentford goalkeeper Simon Moore, 23, on Monday. "Ourselves and Toulouse have come to an agreement," Mackay confirmed. "We've got to then have the conversation with Etienne and his advisors, they've been very professional in terms of what they're talking about as well. "We've been in constant dialogue with them in the last week and Toulouse have been excellent to deal with. "It's pretty delicate at the moment. We're in discussions and negotiations but it's something that's ongoing." Capoue is thought to favour a move to Spain but Atletico Madrid have so far failed to match Toulouse's valuation for the five-time capped defensive midfielder, while Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton have all been linked with the player. Cardiff are also thought to be interested in Espanyol's Hector Moreno, but would face similarly stiff competition to sign the Mexico defender. So far only Denmark striker Andreas Cornelius and Derby County full-back John Brayford have signed during the summer. But it seems certain that Moore will become the third player to join Cardiff ahead of their debut season in the Premier League. David Marshall will be the Bluebirds' number one goalkeeper for the coming season, but Moore and Joe Lewis will provide excellent options in that position. "It'll be paperwork first thing Monday morning, that's the only thing holding that one up," Mackay said. "I'm glad to get that one in, he's someone we've tracked for a year and he's had a successful year for Brentford. "He's one that I think is a real prospect. For the future of the club, I've got three really good goalkeepers now; Simon comes in and I think he can kick on again. "My thanks to Brentford for the way they went about their business, they were very professional and it was done very quickly." Cardiff continued their pre-season preparations with a 1-1 draw at Cheltenham Town on Saturday and next face Brentford away on Tuesday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23028290 I'm getting jealous too. That story sounds familiar. Wonder if anyone else did it before them? Nah, they can't have done- we'd have heard about it and a film would have been made......
Cardiff have ****ed about for most of the window trying to sign unrealistic targets. I'd be amazed if they actually sign him. Brayford from Derby was a great signing - one of their best players, along with that midfielder Will Hughes.
Why on earth are you jealous. I don't see any of those signings as knock your socks off. I would in fact say we have done better and in the long run player for player paid less. They are paying nearly as much on one player as we have on seven.
To be fair Etienne Capoue is a quality midfielder.. would be surprised if he went to Cardiff though as he's well known as one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1
I got an Email ages ago saying we were after Simon Moore. Posted it in here and on Twitter. I was told we were going to offer Jakupovic+Cash for him. Although with the signings of Steve Harper and Allan McGregor meant we pulled out. Cardiff are planning on spending big and it's making me think the DQPR model hasn't taught anybody a lesson. We're spending shrewdly and it's good, but splashing out £9M+ on players, and on a regular basis, can be dangerous.
You have to be pretty confident if you spend £9m on a player. I worry about what City are doing regarding the squad. We don't know if many of the players will be good enough in the Premier League and are our Plan B's any better. We should have 20 players who we are confident about given several will fail, get injured, or be suspended. I don't like the idea of considering sending Fryatt out on loan (as suggested) and selling Hobbs but there may be good reasons I don't know about.
Without being biased towards Hull City, I would honestly say that most of our players are ready for the step up. The likes of Chester, Aluko, Brady, Meyler, Boyd etc will relish this test and obviously there's the new additions like Davies, Figueroa, Graham etc who have all come with Premier League experience. I don't think we should send Fryatt out on loan unless we're planning on getting another forward to replace him. McLean should go, but Fryatt should stay in case of, as you say, injuries and suspensions. What's good about what we're doing, is that should we get relegated (which I don't think we will), we'll be in a strong position to bounce straight back up. Cardiff splashing vast amounts of money on individual players can get them in trouble should they get the drop. Spending money like that means you REALLY need to survive relegation.
Yes it would be brilliant to have a squad who can play at Premier League level and be proven at it, however they are going to cost 50k+ a week and going to cost 5M+ the last time we did that it went horribly wrong. If this deal goes through Cardiff have spent 17M on two players, two very good players but it can't be good for their finances they have only just come out of debt. We can't afford to do what they have done, if we could we would have done. I would rather us have hungry younger unproven players who we can afford, and if things go wrong we are still in a good financial position.
I think we've missed a trick not signing Simon Moore, he's going to be a very good goalkeeper in the future. If they manage to pull of the signing of Capoue, then that's brilliant for them. People are saying they'll be the new Portsmouth or QPR, but I think that's just out of bitterness. Anyone with any knowledge of continental football will know how good Cornelius and Capoue are. They've only made 1 signing so far, but in fairness, he was their number 1 target and they fought to get him, just like they are with Capoue. Rather than giving up and going after options C,D and E, they're fighting tooth and nail to get their preferred options. In that respect, I'm kind of jealous that they've managed to do their business this way. I'm happy with what we've got so far, don't get me wrong, it just seems Cardiff's way of doing things is getting them better players. Of course, we can't afford to do things Cardiff's way, so I suppose it's all moot really.
Nobody's slating what they're doing, it's brilliant that they're able to fight to earn the signatures of the players they want. It's just can you imagine the expenditure? Obviously, if you've got the financial backing, then go ahead and use it but the transfer fee and wages will be significantly high and it's all well and good if you manage to stay up... Come relegation time, then the problems arise.
It is a gamble on their part, but they can afford it and if it means that extra bit of security and staying up, then they'll probably go for it. That said, bigger teams than them have gone down in recent years. We seem to be buying players just in case we get relegated, which seems smarter to be honest.
