Cardiff City should gazump Sunderland AFC, West Brom in transfer race for Chelsea agreement | OneFootball

Cardiff City should be looking to beat off fellow second-tier competitors for Chelsea starlet Harvey Vale

With just a week left to go in the mid-season window, Cardiff City will surely intend on welcoming further additions following the arrival of Yousef Salech and should therefore be plotting an advance for Chelsea's Harvey Vale under the noses of Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion.

The urgent necessity of bringing new recruits in through the door has naturally decreased as of late, with Cardiff having stretched their unbeaten run across the Championship and FA Cup to eight matches after seeing off Derby County in the Welsh capital on Saturday afternoon.

Cardiff are now up to 18th in the league table and just three points shy of bitter rivals Swansea City - whom they thrashed 3-0 in a south Wales derby showdown for the ages just last weekend, while they have also gained a four-point advantage over 22nd-placed Portsmouth, going some way to alleviate fears of relegation to League One.

At this moment in time, it does feel as though Cardiff are more in need of a touch of quality in one or two areas of the pitch, with the wide-left position remaining one worthy of addressing.

The Bluebirds are said to be looking to utilise the Premier League loan market and should still be entertaining that strategy, although the aforementioned Vale will likely be leaving Chelsea on a permanent basis in the remainder of the month and Cardiff should be entering the ever-intensifying second-tier race for his services accordingly.

Sunderland, West Brom and others interested in Chelsea FC's Harvey Vale

The 21-year-old is a graduate of Chelsea's vaunted academy system and had been tipped as one of the most exciting prospects to emerge from the Cobham conveyor belt, even winning the club's Academy Player of the Year award in 2022 after making five of his seven current first-team appearances that term.

Vale has twice headed out of Stamford Bridge on loan, and redeemed himself after a disappointing stint in the Championship with Hull City which yielded just three appearances by flourishing at Bristol Rovers last term, with his performances at League One level sure to form the basis behind much of the second-tier interest that he is the subject of.

Understandably, the versatile left-sided operator is struggling to forge his way into Enzo Maresca's overloaded Blues squad, and has played just 68 minutes of senior football across two UEFA Conference League outings against FC Astana of Kazakhstan and Shamrock Rovers this term.

And Vale, who has been on Chelsea's books since the age of 12, is now set to leave permanently this month as he nears the end of his contract.

According to reports, the talented prospect has offers from the Championship alongside clubs in Belgium and the Netherlands, with Chelsea willing to sanction a free transfer exit with what would likely be a significant sell-on clause due to his age.

A previous update on X from GIVEMESPORT's Ben Jacobs revealed three of those clubs to be Sunderland, Anderlecht and Heerenveen, while further second-tier suitors in Oxford United, QPR and promotion hopefuls West Brom have all been credited with an interest in Vale's signature, too.

Cardiff City should beat Sunderland, West Brom and others to Chelsea's Harvey Vale

Cardiff have not yet been formally linked to the Chelsea academy product, though both in terms of the club's freshly-initiated recruitment strategy and the exact profile criteria which is needed on the left-hand side of Riza's front three, Vale very much fits the bill to a tee and would represent a shrewd and attainable option heading into the latter stages of the season and well beyond.

Although the Bluebirds have one of the oldest squads in the division by measure of the average age of the starting eleven, a more progressive and sustainable strategy towards recruitment - by and large, of course, has seen the club target younger recruits, both domestically and overseas, and since last summer in particular, with Alex Robertson (21), Will Fish (21), Roko Simic (21) and Salech (23) having all joined in that space of time.

Stylistically, Vale would tick a lot of boxes and offers many malleable qualities which make him a serious long-term prospect. Arguably the outstanding attribute of Vale's arsenal is his versatility, which enables him to operate anywhere down the left-hand side - be it on the left-side of a 4-3-3 in his favoured position or as a wing-back and even in a back four, should neccesity dictate - as well as in the middle of the park as part of either a double-pivot or as an attacking midfielder.

In the context of a 46-game slog in the Championship, where injuries and both physical and psychological fatigue invariably accompany an often-unforgiving fixture schedule, being so positionally and tactically flexible is a huge plus point which will surely be on the minds of Vale's admirers.

Naturally, given his Cobham curriculum, Vale is technically assured and can operate in tight pockets of space, but also provides an extremely direct outlet with his athletic, dynamic running, willingness to take on opposition defenders and creativity in the final third, chiefly from crosses into the area.

Those qualities were displayed to no end just down the road with Bristol Rovers last season, where Vale made 47 appearances across all competitions and managed to return three goals and six assists. His output would likely have been greater had he played further forward, of course, with the Gas often utilising Vale as an all-action left wing-back.

But Cardiff, who play a flat four and have Callum O'Dowda and Joel Bagan as credible left-sided defensive options, would be looking to tap into Vale's offensive talents and incorporate him into a position of need.

Academy graduate Cian Ashford, and a recently-redeemed Anwar El Ghazi, are Cardiff's two chief candidates on the right flank right now, but the other side is in need of work.

Chris Willock is Cardiff's most talented wide player, if not overall throughout the squad, but has struggled for inconsistency at times, while he's simply much more comfortable drifting into pockets and coming inside, as opposed to blitzing past opponents and directing the side in transition.

Cardiff now need a winger who can do that and add much-needed speed and directness to their attack, which Vale's arrival most certainly would.

The catch, one would imagine, is the calibre of competitors should Cardiff decide to enter the race. But there is a caveat, which hinges upon Vale's own stance. You would have to question whether the former England youth international would seriously break into the starting side of either Regis Le Bris or Tony Mowbray, both of whom are gunning to get their sides promoted from the Championship.

It's open season for Sunderland's wide-left position at the moment, but that won't be the case once Tommy Watson and Romaine Mundle each return from respective long-term injury absences in the next month.

Mowbray, meanwhile, has both Mikey Johnston and previous Bluebirds loanee Karlan Grant to call upon in Vale's favoured position, so Cardiff would be able to make instant assurances regarding game-time which the likes of Sunderland and Albion perhaps could not quite commit to just yet.

In that sense, then, Cardiff may be an attractive proposition to Vale, who, at 21, needs to be playing regular football and could just end up being an extremely savvy pick-up both in the short and long-term future.