These are your Cardiff City headlines on Tuesday, February 2
Kaba a doubt for Hull City
Cardiff boss Sabri Lamouchi is unsure whether new signing Sory Kaba will be available to face Hull City on Saturday, with the striker still not in Wales as of Thursday morning.
The 27-year-old was signed on loan until the end of the season on deadline day, but he hasn't played any football since November meaning his match fitness is likely to be on the rusty side. Lamouchi also admitted he has yet to see the striker play.
READ MORE: Cardiff City's Sabri Lamouchi reveals stance on free agent signings and the one concern he now has
"I need to see the player face-to-face," he said. "I have this report about him. Different country. Different league. Different time as well. The last game he played was in November. We have a lot of questions. Only with him here will we have the solution and the best way to use him. I don’t want to take a risk.
"I don’t know (if he'll be available). He’s not even in the building. He’s not in Cardiff. After his first session I can answer and say when he’s ready to play. For sure he will travel with us to Hull because he has to get to know the players and staff and the club."
Club working on new signings, no Stack replacement
Lamouchi added at his pre-Hull press briefing that he was open to the idea of raiding the free agent market to bolster his squad.
More firepower wouldn't go amiss, and a left-back would be a real bonus, should they be able to secure one. The club's head of recruitment Kevin Beadell is working hard, the Frenchman said, to find solutions to the club's pressing issues.
"Look. Kevin, the head of recruitment, is a very good guy," Lamouchi said. "He’s working out for the club. The club are working out to find the best players and the best solutions for the team. I believe in the club and I believe in Kevin. I believe in the chairman. I believe in all the people here to find the best solution for the club. So, it’s not time to complain. It’s not time to ask. It’s time to do. So we have a lot of things to do.
"First, my job. And the players as well. Each person here in the club should do the same because what we want, all of us, is to play in the Championship next season with Cardiff City. That’s it. The rest - good opportunities - why we don’t sign this one. Why we don’t sign that one. Why we don’t find a solution. Maybe, asking this question, you know the result. You know the answer. I know you guys don’t want a bad situation and you want to find a solution to help the club out of this situation."
Nkounkou's bad start
It appears Niels Nkounkou's woes are continuing beyond his stint with Cardiff.
The left-back was recalled by parent club Everton and immediately loaned out again, this time to French club St Etienne. And it's been a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire for him, with his new temporary employers also struggling this season in the French second tier.
He has turned out three times so far in Ligue 2, winning one and losing two, with St Etienne's players coming in for a fair bit of stick in the press.
Journalist Laurent Hess, via SportWitness, said of their recent defeat: “Shaken from the start, the Greens conceded two goals at the start of the second half, with a very restless Van de Kerkhov, far too much for poor Niels Nkounkou, who was even more struggling in Bastia than he had been against Sochaux.
“What to wonder about the player on loan from Everton, who will quickly have to show that he is not another flop in this Saint-Etienne workforce which looks more and more like a Mexican army.”
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