Home
Cardiff City have joined Fulham on the trail of Wanderers winger Dapo Afolayan.
The Welsh club checked out Ian Evatt’s top scorer in Monday’s 3-1 win against Accrington Stanley in which he grabbed a 14th goal of the season.
Afolayan has attracted plenty of admiring glances from the Championship this season, with Fulham still said to be monitoring his progress at the University of Bolton Stadium.
The former West Ham man has a contract which runs up to 2024 and is coming towards the end of his first full season as a professional, having signed for Wanderers last summer on the back of a successful six-month loan.
Afolayan’s electric running and dribbling skills have translated well to League One and though his goal on Monday was the 24-year-old’s first in 10 games, he remains only the second person in two decades to score more than a dozen times in a single campaign.
Eoin Doyle managed 19 last term but Michael Ricketts’ 15 in 2001/02 had remained unchallenged to that point.
Cardiff, who have also been linked with a move for Millwall’s Jed Wallace, have shown progress since the appointment of Steve Morison in October and currently sit 17th in the table.
Ian Evatt said last month that he was preparing to be “tested” in the summer transfer market, having seen his players make such progress in the last two seasons.
“The problem we have when we are playing like we are the moment is people get highlighted and targeted,” he said.
“I have no doubt we’ll be tested in the summer and whatever decisions we do make will be what we feel is in the best interests of the football club. But we are under no pressure to sell. It will be what we feel is right, Sharon [Brittan, owner of the club] and myself and the rest of the board.”
Wanderers skipper Ricardo Santos had also been tracked by clubs in the Championship over the last few months until his season was ended prematurely by a hamstring injury.
The defender says he will hold talks with the club about a new deal once the current campaign comes to an end.
Source
