Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Thursday, May 5.
Rotherham boss on signing Will Vaulks
Paul Warne would love the opportunity to sign Cardiff City's Will Vaulks but remains realistic over the player's potential wage demands after his contract runs down in the Welsh capital.
The Wales international has been a steady performer, all things considered, since joining the Bluebirds in 2019, but his contract is set to expire at the end of next month as things stand.
That begs the question of where his next club might be. His old side Rotherham, of course, have just sealed a return to the Championship, going up from League One as champions, and Warne is no doubt already considering assembling a squad which can sustain a campaign in the second tier next term.
READ MORE: The Cardiff City youngsters influencing transfer policy and what happens next to them
It's no surprise that Vaulks is a player Warne likes. The midfielder captained the Millers during his time there and achieved great things with the club. Is a return on the cards? Well, if Vaulks is happy to accept the wages Rotherham are offering then there is no reason why not, according to Warne.
"I obviously love Will, so if I could get anywhere near Will's wage demands that would be a player I like," the Millers manager told the Yorkshire Post. "However, I do not expect Will to sign this summer is probably my nicest answer.
"I spoke to him on the bus on the way home (after beating Gillingham last Saturday). I nearly asked him to put his phone down and do the flip, but we'd had a couple of beers so it seemed funny at the time.
"I did speak to him but it isn't like 'Oh what's happening this summer'. I have spoken to him loads of times and he has phoned me for advice while he's been at Cardiff which I have given.
"I always speak to him and if I could get a Will Vaulks or a Semi Ajayi back obviously I would, but there are limitations on what we can do."
The 28-year-old played 137 times for the Yorkshire club, scoring 17 goals, before signing for Cardiff in 2019.
Healey looking forward to facing Messi and Neymar
Former Cardiff City forward Rhys Healey now has Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi in his cross hairs after helping Toulouse achieve promotion to Ligue 1.
Healey scored 20 goals for the French club, the most of anyone in Ligue 2, as he steered them to promotion following two years in the second tier.
It's been a meteoric rise for the 27-year-old, who was released by Cardiff in 2019 after six years with the club. Following a prolific season for MK Dons, he was signed by Toulouse and the rest, as they say, is history. A meeting with PSG is on the cards for him next year.
“The chance of facing big players like Messi was so far away when I was a kid and now it is so close," he told The Sun.
“I played with these players on FIFA and now could have the chance to be on the same pitch with them and play at places like the Parc des Princes and Marseille. It is incredible.
“It was great to get promotion on Monday. I cannot explain it, to be honest. The beers were flowing, there was dancing and singing. Also, there was a lot of relief as we lost in the play-off final a year ago.”
It's been quite the journey for Healey, who was signed by the Bluebirds from Welsh club Connah's Quay Nomads nine years ago. Many loans away from the club ensued, although he did feature three times in the Premier League during his final campaign with the club.
But Healey scored 19 league goals in 36 games for MK Dons, which attracted the glances of Toulouse, whom he joined in the summer of 2020 for £1m. The striker is under no illusion that he made the choice to join MK Dons, who were then managed by now Swansea City boss Russell Martin.
“The move came out of the blue," he added. "I was a bit scared at the time as I did not know much about French football and Toulouse.
“I made the right choice. It is a beautiful city, a big city. When I joined it was difficult with the Covid situation and it is great to have now played in a full stadium. The language has been difficult but I do understand more than I speak. I have had some nice messages from England, including my old manager at MK Dons, Russell Martin, who is such a good man-manager. MK was definitely the stepping stone for me.”
Purse: Looking forward to next season
Darren Purse is looking forward to the start of next season with the under-23s, having to battle through the final few months of the campaign with an extremely young squad.
The under-23s finished their campaign with a 2-1 victory over Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday thanks to goals from James Crole and Cian Ashford, but it's been a tough few months for the young Bluebirds.
Key players such as Isaak Davies, Chanka Zimba and Kieron Evans were moved out of the under-23s and on to the first team or loans elsewhere, while younger players were tasked with stepping in to fill the sizeable voids left.
And while that caused a huge dip in results - Cardiff ended up finishing third in the Professional Development League 2 table when they led for most of the campaign - Purse said it is all about developing the younger players, who will be more prepared for the challenge next season.
"It was nice to finish the season with a couple of wins," Purse said. "I'm not going to say it's been a hard slog, but you look at the squad we have had in the second half of the season and it bodes well for the future, because you've got under-18s playing. You've got players like James Crole and Tom Davies who have played basically every minute I've been here and they are still second year scholars.
"From that point of view I am really looking forward to next season. I'm just delighted to win the games over the last few weeks. The performance could've been better. When we pressed well and our energy levels were up we looked like a good side.
"I've really enjoyed the six months. It's been a steep learning curve for myself and the same goes for those boys. A lot of them have not played much under-18s football because they've been with the 23s. They'll make mistakes but they'll learn from them.
"Plenty to work on, I'm looking forward to next season. Nice to get a little break now and see what pre-season brings."
