Cardiff Bring In Reinforcements With James Forrest
Cardiff have decided to try and strengthen their squad in January, and really fortify their position at the top of the table, by bringing in some help in midfield. The South Wales club announced the signing of Scottish midfielder James Forrest from Celtic for £1.7 million. The 25 year old Scottish international signed a 3 year contract worth about £25,000 a week.
James Forrest was primarily an attacking midfielder for Celtic and has always had an attacking edge to his game. He spent his entire youth career at Celtic Park before making his first-team debut in 2009. Since then he has played 116 games for the Hoops, scoring 23 goals from midfield. He is also used to winning, having picked up winners medals for the last 4 years in the Scottish Premier League.
Although the Cardiff first team seems set in stone at the moment, with both Peter Whittingham and Aron Gunnarsson in great form, there has been a lack of strength in depth with Dikgacoi and O'Keefe not really showing their full potential. With the loss of loanee Lex Immers in the summer it's clear that the team needed to address that lack of depth. Forrest also has a big benefit of being able to play on the wing. Although Anthony Pilkington started off the season in blistering form, pushing Craig Noone to the sidelines, he has cooled recently and there may be room for Forrest to make a push for the first team that way.
After the big money moves in the summer Cardiff needed to finance the move by selling off one of their players and they found a buyer for out-of-work striker Idriss Saadi. Despite only playing a handful of matches for the club and only managing a single goal, Aston Villa were willing to offer £2.6 million which Cardiff eagerly accepted. Hopefully for Saadi he can find more opportunities in Birmingham than he found in South Wales.