Each summer 2023 signing by Cardiff City (Ranked)

Cardiff City made a very improbable decision to replace manager Sabri Lamouchi this past summer.

Lamouchi, Mark Hudson, Steve Morison, Mick McCarthy, and Neil Harris are just a handful of the Bluebirds’ former head coaches who have left their posts since early January 2021. However, Erol Bulut may be the team’s next long-term leader.

The 48-year-old, who has only ever managed in Turkey and most recently served at Gaziantep, has been given the opportunity to oversee what has been dubbed as the club’s best transfer window in a very long time. Some people genuinely believe that the South Wales team is in for excellent things in the future.

Nine new faces arrived at the Cardiff City Stadium in the summer window – including a very familiar one to Bluebirds fans – but how do they rank in terms of excitement and importance? Let’s take a look at how they stack up.

9Runar Alex Runarsson

In truth, Cardiff haven’t made a poor signing this summer, but goalkeeper additions can often be uninspiring or the least exciting.

In Runarsson though, City have landed a goalkeeper that has something of a decent pedigree.

Capped 26 times by the Iceland national side, Runarsson arrived at Arsenal in 2020 as a backup goalkeeper and he’s subsequently spent time out on loan in Belgium with OH Leuven and then in Turkey with Alanyaspor.

Presumably the latter stint is where Bulut became familiar of the 27-year-old as he appeared 30 times in the Turkish Super Lig, and with Ryan Allsop departing for Hull City, Runarsson is set to battle with Jak Alnwick to be Cardiff’s first-choice.

It’s not a massively exciting signing, but it’s solid nonetheless.

8Yakou Meite

If Meite can find the form showed at Reading between 2018 and 2021, where he scored 42 times in 110 matches, then Cardiff probably have a good player on their hands.

Unfortunately though, the Ivorian has been plagued by injury and fitness issues since the 2020-21 season, which has included a serious knee injury in 2021 that kept him out of action for much of the 2021-22 campaign.

Equally adept at playing on the wing or as a striker, Meite signed for Cardiff on a free transfer this summer after his departure from the Royals, where he scored four Championship goals last season, and considering he’s still 27 years of age, the forward could have plenty to offer if he can stay fit.

7Karlan Grant

A few years ago, Grant would have been a fantastic signing for any Championship club considering he went to West Brom in 2020 for £15 million from Huddersfield.

His stock has dropped quite considerably though despite an 18-goal haul in the 2021-22 season in the Championship, scoring just the five times for the Baggies last season and he was not frequently used under Carlos Corberan to the lengths that he almost joined Cardiff’s rivals Swansea on loan in January.

Grant, who perhaps operates best on the left-hand side of a front three, now has a point to prove after joining on loan from Albion, but if Bulut can help him to rediscover his goalscoring edge then this could end up being a good addition.

6Jonathan Panzo

Having been educated by Chelsea for a lot of his youth career, Panzo has a good pedigree and his talent is why Monaco swooped for him as a youngster in 2018.

He was brought back to England however in 2022 by Nottingham Forest, and he spent last season on loan with play-off finalists Coventry City, playing 31 times for the Sky Blues in league action but by the end of the season he wasn’t always starting under Mark Robins following the arrival of Luke McNally in January.

Panzo has talent though and adds another option at centre-back and also a lot of balance on the left-hand side of a three if Bulut decides to go with a 3-5-2 on any occasion.

5Ike Ugbo

Another Chelsea-educated player, Ugbo had prolific spells on loan away from Stamford Bridge at Roda JC in the Netherlands and then Cercle Brugge in Belgium, with that form leading him to become a full Canada international.

Having not found the back of the net as much in France with Troyes though, Ugbo was allowed to return to the UK with Cardiff this summer, signing on loan to further bolster Bulut’s centre-forward options.

Capable of playing out wide as well, Ugbo has the tools to potentially be a 20-goal a season attacker at Championship level.

4Manolis Siopis

Bulut was always going to use his links to Turkish football to try and find some new players, and someone with pedigree that he has managed to bring to Wales is Siopis.

A defensive midfielder, the 29-year-old played regularly for Trabzonspor in Turkey last season, notching up 40 appearances including in European competition as his side finished in sixth position in the domestic standings.

With 26 caps to his name for Greece, Siopis brings plenty of experience into the engine room and on a free transfer, City may have landed a bargain.

3Dimitrios Goutas

Another Greek player that has landed in South Wales by way of Turkey is Goutas, who will add some much-needed defensive steel to what was a leaky defence from last season.

Like Siopis, Goutas is a 29-year-old with plenty of top flight experience in Greece, Belgium and most recently the Turkish Super Lig with Sivasspor, where he played 84 times over a two-year period.

Goutas, another player who signed on a free, looks to have a real presence and whilst not as experienced on the international stage, a new defender or two was a very important area to recruit in this past summer and he looks to be what Bulut needed.

2Josh Bowler

There’s a chance that Bowler made the wrong move in 2022 by heading to Nottingham Forest from Blackpool, as he is still yet to be given a chance by the Tricky Trees.

Immediately loaned out to Olympiacos last season, the tricky winger didn’t have much success in Greece and headed back to the Seasiders on loan for the second half of 2022-23, and it always seemed likely that with Forest still a Premier League club, Bowler would be somewhere in the second tier of English football for this season.

Cardiff swooped and with Bulut favouring a 4-2-3-1 formation, he needs tricky wingers who have some end product, and Bowler has that in abundance – a really exciting addition to the Turk’s squad.

1Aaron Ramsey

There has been a clamour for Cardiff’s prodigal son to return home for a long time, and that was made a reality this summer when Ramsey re-joined his hometown club on a free transfer.

French outfit Nice mutually terminated his contract in order to let Ramsey sign for City once more, and despite being 32 years of age there is plenty left in the tank still for the Wales icon.

A Serie A and FA Cup winner at Juventus and Arsenal respectively, Ramsey was playing regularly at a good level in Ligue 1 last season as well as in Europe, appearing 34 times for Nice, so there’s every reason to believe that he can be a star in the Championship despite his advancing years.