Erol Bulut has spoken for the first time about Cardiff City’s ultimately failed bid to sign Kieffer Moore at the start of the month.
The Bluebirds boss made no secret of his admiration for the Wales striker, who eventually signed for Ipswich Town on loan from Bournemouth on deadline day.
It meant goal-shy Cardiff had to make do with only former Bristol City front man Famara Diedhiou as their sole striker acquisition, that is coupled with the departure of Ike Ugbo, who was recalled by Troyes before being sent back out to Sheffield Wednesday.
Moore has as many league goals in three games for Ipswich Town – three – as Cardiff’s three strikers – Kion Etete, Diedhiou and Yakou Meite – have all season, showing what a step up in quality can really do for your team.
Speaking about trying to sign Moore, Bulut said even the Cardiff players who have played with him before at the club or at international level were trying to help seal the deal, but there was no such luck.
“We tried a lot,” Bulut said. “I know from the board they pushed really hard to get him. His decision was to be with Ipswich, we cannot change it and we have to respect it. I tried hard. The players tried hard, because we had many talks with him. The board tried hard, but in the end it was the decision of the player. He decided to be with Ipswich, I don’t know, maybe he gets some extra things there, so he decided to go there.
“So then we have to look for other players. We knew we had to wait until the end of the window to get him. But I also wanted another striker before, so that’s why we got Fam (Diedhiou). That’s why we made the transfer.
“We tried at the last moment to get Kieffer, but we didn’t have enough time in the end. And also there were the limits, which was a problem for me. So we managed to fix everything in the last three days. It’s not easy.”
Cardiff’s three top goalscorers in the league this season are Perry Ng, Dimitrios Goutas and Mark McGuinness. They have scored 16 goals from set pieces and only 15 from open play, the lowest from any team in the entire division.
