Cardiff City's inability to buy low and sell high has been a real flaw in their financial strategy in recent years.
Clubs like Swansea City, just down the road, continue to stave off mountainous debt by selling players of high value each year before replacing them with relatively inexpensive youngsters with potential, in the hope they will go on to net millions in the years to come.
Examples of that happening at Cardiff City Stadium, though, have been all too rare. But, for the first time in a long time, Cardiff now look as though they do have some young assets who could potentially be worth a decent wedge of cash with a good season or two of Championship football under their belts.
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Chief among those is Mark McGuinness. Cardiff fans' social media was flooded with Sheffield Wednesday supporters back in January when the Bluebirds recalled him from his loan in January following a barnstorming first half of the season with the League One club.
Owls fans were under no illusion that he would be playing Premier League football next season, simply based on the evidence of what they saw in the first half of the campaign. He came back to City and continued his strong form for the remainder of the season and was a favourite under Sabri Lamouchi.
Mick McCarthy, the man responsible for signing McGuinness from Arsenal in 2021, said of the player in his last pre-match press conference before he was sacked: "Whatever people are thinking about my reign and me, that is a damn good signing.
"He will be a really good player for the club and I hope he is one to drive the club forward. If not, I think he will be worth a hell of a lot of money in some time to come."
Well, the player's trajectory appears to suggest that could well be the case. A year ago, his transfer value, according to Transfermarkt, stood at £1m, now the 22-year-old is thought to be worth three times that at a tad more than £3m. Needless to say, it would take a far more sizeable bid than that to tempt Cardiff to sell one of their brightest prospects.
He isn't the most valuable player, though. Both Callum Robinson and Ryan Wintle hold that post jointly with at a £3.34m valuation. Robinson has that Premier League pedigree, of course, while he is also a goalscorer, too, the most sought-after of qualities in the Championship and top flight.
Wintle, meanwhile, has seen a remarkable rise in his transfer value since moving to City. In fact, he has seen it skyrocket to six times what it was a year ago. Quite incredible, really. Transfermarkt valued Wintle at £527,000 in May 2022, now, a year on, he is worth £3.34m. The 25-year-old really flourished during the early-season passing mantra installed by Steve Morison, but found his influence waning when a more pragmatic, direct style of play was brought in by Lamouchi at the end of the campaign.
The 2022/23 Player of the Season, Perry Ng, has also seen his market value rise steadily since joining the club. His yearly increase from this time last year has seen him shoot from £1.76m to £3m. Indeed, there was talk that a number of Championship clubs were looking at Ng should City have succumbed to relegation and that won't surprise anyone who has seen him play in a Cardiff shirt over the last couple of years.
What of the youngsters, then? Well, right now, the numbers aren't as impressive as you would like them to be. But the likes of Isaak Davies, Kion Etete and Rubin Colwill should be viewed as players who could net those big numbers if they enjoy fruitful campaigns next season. We've seen Alex Scott, the EFL's Young Player of the Year, at Bristol City be courted by the likes of Liverpool this summer already, with mega-money fees in the offing after a stellar campaign for the Robins.
Championship winners Burnley were understood to be in for Isaak Davies last year, with Clarets assistant Craig Bellamy clearly knowing the forward's potential, and a £2.5m bid was made, however Cardiff rejected the offer.
Cardiff would ideally like to see the transfer values of Colwill (£1.32m), Davies (£880,000) and Etete (£790,000) soar over the next 12 months like the likes of Wintle, Ng and McGuinness.
Cardiff's accounts every year state they are heavily reliant on regular cash injections from owner Vincent Tan and that looks unlikely to change any time soon. But if Cardiff could increase their revenue stream through player sales, while reinvesting part of that money into more recruitment, then, in time, the financial landscape might begin to look a little less daunting.
Every Cardiff City player's transfer value
Callum Robinson £3.34m
Ryan Wintle £3.34m
Perry Ng £3.07m
Mark McGuinness £3.07m
Callum O'Dowda £2.19m
Andy Rinomhota £2.19m
Mahlon Romeo £1.76m
Joe Ralls £1.58m
Sheyi Ojo £1.58m
Rubin Colwill £1.32m
Romaine Sawyers £1.05m
Jamilu Collins £880,000
Mark Harris £880,000
Isaak Davies £880,000
Ryan Allsop £790,000
Kion Etete £790,000
Connor Wickham £702,000
Jack Simpson £702,000
Vontae Daley-Campbell £702,000
Joel Bagan £527,000
Jak Alnwick £351,000
Tom Sang £263,000
Max Watters £263,000
Ebou Adams £176,000
Oliver Denham £176,000
Ollie Tanner £88,000
(According to Transfermark)
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