It's been quite the season for Cardiff City.
A brand-new squad, a manager sacking, a transfer embargo and another looming relegation scrap on the horizon. It's never dull in this small corner of the world, is it?
With all that to consider, it is perhaps understandable that striking new deals with players heading out of contract has hit the back burner. That being the case, the transfer embargo — which the club insist they are confident of getting out of — should in fact hasten decisions over those whose contracts expire at the end of the current campaign.
City have eight players whose deals are up next summer. Not quite the volume of players who walked out for nothing this summer, but still a decent chunk of what would be next season's squad list.
Cardiff are free to offer existing players new deals despite being placed under the transfer embargo.
On the other side of the coin, if they are under an embargo, they are only allowed 23 players of professional standing in their squad. They are allowed to "staff up" to 23 players to maintain the integrity of the league. You can read more on that in depth here.
But the point is, would allowing some players to go free up more spaces to "staff up", thus creating more room in which to manoeuvre in the transfer window next summer? They would have to be only free transfers and loans, which don't include a loan fee, so they would be limited to who they could sign.
It's a lot to consider. And who knows, by next summer, the embargo might be lifted. Nevertheless, the eight players heading out of contract will want some clarity over their futures sooner rather than later. So, below, we look at their current situation at Cardiff...
Curtis Nelson
Has had to take a different role this season, waiting patiently on the bench for his chance. He started the season poorly after being granted a couple of opportunities and was directly responsible for two or three goals conceded. But he is nowhere near as bad a defender as some make him out to be. There is a reason he has been a regular, and donned the captain's armband, at every club he has been at.
He will have been as disappointed as anyone with those early-season performances, but they came at a bad time as he entered the final year of his contract.
That being said, he still offers a good blend of athleticism and physicality when he has been needed. Indeed, he has been brought on to help see out games, utilising his defensive aerial ability, and his work has slid under the radar.
Cardiff are also quite understaffed in that area. Perry Ng is doing well there but isn't a natural centre-back, Cedric Kipre is going back to West Brom at the end of the campaign, while Jack Simpson has done OK. Whether Oliver Denham can cut it at this level is still unknown.
Nelson will be on decent wages and this one seems a little bit in the balance at the minute. Expect him to have a run in the team before the season is out if Ng or Kipre get injured.
Mark Harris
Seems a no-brainer that he will be offered fresh terms before the season is through.
He has just returned from Qatar, having gone there with Wales for their World Cup campaign, and has been a solid performer in a blue shirt so far this term.
A homegrown forward who rarely lets you down, Harris has probably emerged as more of a winger than a striker during his time with the Bluebirds. His versatility and work rate are valued by City's coaching staff.
He will want to add more goals, but at 23 he still has time to hone that area of his game. His future is probably on the wing.
Expect him to be a Cardiff player this time next year.
Gavin Whyte
What a rollercoaster of a journey his time at Cardiff has been.
He went from a Neil Warnock favourite to seeing 18 months' worth of loan spells at Hull City and Oxford United, where he earned promotion and produced his best attacking numbers respectively.
He has come back and has looked a solid addition to the squad this season, scoring a good goal against his former club Hull and producing a composed assist for Ryan Wintle up at Stoke City.
The Northern Ireland international, 26, has started the last two games and Mark Hudson clearly rates him. But why is there always a question mark hovering over him?
Does he want a fresh start, somewhere where he is a nailed-on starter, like he was at Hull or Oxford, or does he want to kickstart his Cardiff career as he enters what many would deem to be the prime of their career?
It's a tough one to call as things stand. He has a few months to make everyone's minds up, though.
Tom Sang
A player who loves the club and is determined to make himself a regular first-team player.
Technically proficient and a hard worker, Neil Harris, Mick McCarthy and now Hudson have all seen things they liked in Sang and have played him at both right back and in midfield.
The decision to send him on loan under Steve Morison perhaps set him back a bit when he had just come off the back of a season where he burst into the first team at right back and really impressed.
The 23-year-old is a good squad man at the minute and, like Harris, has time on his side. Another who rarely lets you down and whose versatility is an asset at this level.
Like Whyte, will have a few months to stick his hand up.
Joel Bagan
Given the tribulations City have had at left-back in recent years, Joel Bagan's lack of game time has puzzled some of his supporters.
Joe Bennett, Greg Cunningham, Alfie Doughty, Jamilu Collins, Niels Nkounkou, Callum O'Dowda, Joe Ralls and Perry Ng have all played there in the last two years. It's certainly not been a settled position for the Bluebirds.
Bagan is now 21 and has 36 Bluebirds appearances to his name. Towards the end of last season he started to find his feet and scored three goals in as many games. But unfortunate injuries have really blighted his development over the last couple of seasons.
Niels Nkounkou has been preferred to him, with O'Dowda having been asked to play there a number of times this term, too.
Where does Bagan fit into all of this now? It's a tricky one. One suspects he cannot be far away from some first-team action.
Either way, Cardiff are a little light in that area, but do have Collins coming back next summer. A new contract is surely being drawn up for the Republic of Ireland under-21s international.
Eli King
A player Cardiff are excited about. The central midfielder has been in good form on loan at Crewe this term and many insiders at the club believe he has a bright future in the heart of City's midfield.
The Bluebirds are receiving positive feedback from the Alex regarding their academy midfielder, who possesses leadership qualities an abundance.
At just 19 years of age, his emergence has been a real bonus for Cardiff, who ideally want him to spend a full season on loan in League One before becoming a regular fixture for City's first team next year.
A new contract is a certainty for the Wales under-21s international.
Dillon Phillips
Former Bluebirds goalkeeper coach Andy Dibble raved about the signing of Dillon Phillips and always felt he would kick on to become the No.1 once Alex Smithies left.
Steve Morison, and new goalkeeping coach Graham Stack, clearly felt differently. The club signed two senior goalkeepers — first-choice Ryan Allsop and No.2 Jak Alnwick — in the summer and Phillips was pushed to the sidelines.
He sealed a loan move to Belgium, with KV Oostende, and had to sit on the bench for the first nine games there. However, he has started the last five but has failed to keep a clean sheet and has shipped 17 goals as Oostende scrap near the foot of the table.
The Belgian club have an option to buy. Whether they opt for that or not remains to be seen, but it is highly unlikely he will be getting a new deal back in the Welsh capital.
Kieron Evans
A winger who shone for the under-23s and rightly earned a promotion to the first team under McCarthy and then had a few chances under Steve Morison, too.
But a disappointing loan spell to Linfield came at the wrong time. It meant the club pored over his next loan move, wanting him to get as many senior games under his belt as possible, and opted for non-League Torquay United.
Speak to any Torquay fan and they will tell you he sticks out like a sore thumb at that level. But how is he meant to leap from that standard to Championship standard?
One feels he might need a Football League loan move in the new year in order for the club to have a better barometer of where the 21-year-old really is in his development.
Next few months are crucial.
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