Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Sunday, June 18.
Colwill could 'maybe' play striker
Rubin Colwill has suggested he could be deployed as a striker in the future, but admitted his favourite position is still in midfield.
Bluebirds supporters were left frustrated at times last season when Colwill, who had looked really dangerous in that No.10 role, was shunted out to the wing when afforded the opportunity to play during a campaign which was punctuated by injuries.
Clearly, that playmaker role is his favoured position and affords him the greatest opportunity to inflict as much damage as possible on opposition defences, which he showed during his first year in the team.
READ MORE: Rubin Colwill targets lead role and play-offs under 'exciting' new Cardiff City boss Erol Bulut
But after some injuries and a number of managerial changes, his position in the team has become somewhat blurred. With fans irked at him being played out wide, some suggested he might be better suited to a second-striker role. It's not something he has ruled out.
"I like playing midfield. I can play out wide. I can play up front, maybe," he said. "As long as I'm on the pitch I'm happy. I think I can offer a lot.
"If I am asked to play anywhere on the pitch, I'll play there. Preferably, probably midfield, I'd say."
Of course, he would like to stay injury-free, too. That will then afford him a longer run in the team and a chance to really nail down a position and find a home on the pitch and in new manager Erol Bulut's starting XI. Indeed, the new manager has already said he wants better attacking output and needs more creativity next year, which will inform his transfer policy but also his team selection, with Colwill arguably Cardiff's most creative player.
The youngster now believes he is over his injury struggles and is determined to get his career back up and running in the 2023/24 campaign.
"I had a lot of issues. It started in pre-season, the first couple of days I had an issue with my hamstring and I was out for a long time," he said of last pre-season. "Then I struggled with some issues in my knees and had a recurring injury in my hip a couple of times. It was a host of different things, I couldn't really pin down (what it was). It made it harder that it was loads of different things, fixing loads of different issues.
"I think I got hold of it a little bit towards the end of last season. But it was tough not having much of a pre-season and trying to get myself fit towards the end of the season. I think I've come through that now and my body is in a good place, understanding myself more and hopefully the growing issues will stop now and I can kick on with my football."
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Fans think they've spotted new member of Bulut's staff
Eagle-eyed Cardiff City fans believe they spotted Erol Bulut's new fitness coach in the stands at Cardiff City Stadium.
During Wales' chastening 4-2 defeat by Armenia on Friday evening, the camera panned to Bulut in the stands, chatting away to a man donning a baseball cap in the stands.
Though his face was obscured slightly by the hat, one supporter believes it bore a striking resemblance to Nikolaos Karydas, the former fitness coach alongside Bulut at Gaziantep. Karydas, known as 'Nikos', had the same role at Olympiacos when Bulut played there during his playing career and is presumably where they met. He was most recently caretaker manager at Greek club Veria NPS for three games at the end of the 2022/23 season.
Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman stated the club would bring in a performance coach, which presumably is what Karydas is, a goalkeeping coach and as assistant.
It is understood the new goalkeeping coach will be someone Bulut has not worked with at his former clubs, but has international pedigree.
Given Erdal Gunes was Bulut's No.2 at Gaziantep before taking the manager's job there after he left, who the Bluebirds boss' new assistant at Cardiff will be is still to be announced. Mehmet Yozgatli has been Bulut’s assistant manager at his last three clubs, but we are told he will not be part of the staff at Cardiff.
Contracts are expected to be signed in the coming days.
Dean Whitehead has moved to Watford to join up with Valerien Ismael, while a decision has not been declared regarding Sol Bamba's future.
Matondo scores in Wales under-19s draw
Cardiff youngster Japhet Matondo was on the scoresheet for Wales under-19s' 2-2 draw with Sweden in Leckwith this afternoon.
Matondo is the younger brother of Wales and former Cardiff forward Rabbi Matondo, who quote tweeted a video of his sibling scoring with the message: "That's bro!"
Matondo's strike, which features in the tweet below, was a peach and put Rob Edwards' side in the lead in Cardiff, however the Swedes, who won the last game between these two sides 1-0, fought back to make it 2-1.
But Lewis Koumas, whose last name will also be very familiar to Cardiff fans, the son of Jason, struck in the second half to ensure the spoils were shared in the friendly match.
There were five starters for Wales who play their football with Cardiff; goalkeeper Jake Dennis, midfielder Dan Barton, Tanatswa Nyakhuwa, Trey George and, of course, Matondo.
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