Cardiff City must send scouts to watch Eredivisie star and Liverpool player, here's why | OneFootball

Scouting missions will be afoot ahead of the January transfer window, and here are two which Cardiff City should be undertaking

The 2024/25 Championship campaign isn't going according to plan at Cardiff City, who undertook a polarising summer transfer window and must seize the opportunity for recruitment redemption in January.

Led by Erol Bulut, the Bluebirds signed eight fresh first-team faces across the duration of a window which encompassed an inconsistent strategy in terms of recruitment profiles. They sought to bring some relatively big-name signings to the Cardiff City Stadium in the form of ex-QPR starlet Chris Willock and former Aston Villa duo Anwar El Ghazi and Callum Chambers, although perhaps only the latter has managed to make his mark this season.

Whereas the aforementioned trio arrived as big name pickups, and probable big earners for that matter, while all being 'what-if' signings at least a year or two past their best, the latter stages of the window saw Cardiff contradict that style of recruitment by acquiring young, upcoming players such as Alex Robertson, Jesper Daland, Will Fish and Roko Simic.

Robertson in particular already appears to represent a simply outstanding capture from Manchester City, although we're yet to see all that much from the rest of Cardiff's summer signings, with Hertha Berlin loanee Wilfried Kanga notably flattering to deceive to the most pronounced degree.

While the pedigree of Cardiff's more experienced arrivals, and the potential of the younger crop, were causes for not-unfounded positivity and excitement at the time, they still neglected to address the most perennial, glaring and fundamental issues in the side - pace and goals.

Cardiff have often been one-footed and turgid in attack in recent years, while the long-term goalscoring woes have arguably been the crux of their on-pitch problems for quite some time. The two issues correlate and cross over, of course, and they must be addressed in January if the Bluebirds are to remain in the Championship or perhaps push further up the table.

Scouting missions will already be afoot ahead of the turn of the year, it will be hoped, and we've decided to round up two players who Cardiff really should be turning their attention to.

Sontje Hansen

The first player Cardiff should consider keeping a closer eye represents something of a wildcard option in Sontje Hansen, who is a largely unknown quantity on English shores but would offer a fresh dimension and much-needed injection of X-Factor to City's frontline.

Former Ajax prospect Hansen has behind him a phenomenal body of work in youth football, where he attracted reported interest from the likes of Manchester City, Inter Milan and Juventus after finishing as the top scorer in 2019's under-17 World Cup in Brazil. The Dutchman appeared to be the next production from Ajax's esteemed talent conveyor belt but is yet to really hit the predicted heights, although he's still only 22 years of age and has the luxury of time on his side to unlock that evidently rich potential within his possession.

Hansen has been with Eredivisie outfit NEC Nijmegen since June 2023. He scored six goals and made a further five assists during his first season of sustained senior football last time out, prompting links to Leeds United after they lost a Dutch winger of their own in Crysencio Summerville.

The parallels are clear, away from merely nationality and playing positions; akin to Summerville, Hansen is most at home wide-left but thrives when cutting inside on his stronger right foot, and is excellent in one-v-one situations.

Quick off the mark with the raw speed and trickery to beat a man on the inside or outside, Hansen's youth record indicates a keen eye for goal even if such marksmanship hasn't yet been consistently executed at first-team level, while his ability to also play on the right-hand side indicates the kind of wide positional flexibility which Cardiff could benefit from.

His record infront of goal still requires work and the fact he isn't even a regular starter for Nijmegen shows he's far from the finished article just yet, but the evidence is there to suggest that Cardiff should consider tracking him initially, with a view to tapping into that clear potential and promise.

He's hardly going to amend their issues infront of goal, but Hansen bears the profile of winger which Cardiff failed to add in the summer. Anwar El Ghazi and Chris Willock are both technically accomplished, of course, but neither have the sheer speed and directness to get this team up the pitch and stand up opponents, while that's where Hansen seems to specialise.

Jayden Danns

Whereas Hansen would, theoretically speaking, almost certainly arrive as a permanent signing, Jayden Danns would be an option to pursue in the loan market, which Cardiff failed to tangibly tap into during the summer.

After using just one of their five available loan slots on the aforementioned, goalless Kanga in spite of enjoying storied success with top-flight loanees in recent memory, Cardiff should be looking to explore this avenue when January comes around.

Liverpool's hotshot striker would represent a realistic, attainable, and applicable option. The 18-year-old is held in extremely high regard at Anfield, having made an emphatic breakthrough to the senior game last season.

The young forward marked only his third professional outing with a brace off the bench against Southampton to inspire a 3-0 FA Cup win back in February and has clearly outgrown age-group football now, meaning a loan exit in January feels likely one way or another. Having been a reported target for Championship rivals Plymouth Argyle back in the summer, it has recently been claimed by The Sun's Alan Nixon - via his exclusive Patreon service - that Wayne Rooney has retained his interest ahead of January, where we could see the prospect head down to Home Park.

Although Danns remains largely untested and would by default represent something of a risk, even if his arrival would only be on loan of course, he ticks the boxes from a stylistic standpoint and appears fully worth taking a punt on for the second-half of the season.

The 18-year-old is quick off the mark, possesses the technical quality to get involved in build-up play and likes to get in behind, which is a profile Cardiff only really have in the form of Isaak Davies - who remains injured and is yet to kick a ball in anger this season.

Danns would allow the Bluebirds to stretch defences and be more direct, an approach which could be carried out efficiently if they also source a pacey winger to work in tandem.

Cardiff desperately need a striker to play second-fiddle to top scorer Callum Robinson, who has been a man reborn this term but can't carry the goalscoring burden alone. Danns, then, surely feels like a strong and viable option to offer some serious competition to the Republic of Ireland international and, given Cardiff's fair hit-rate in the top-flight loan market - not least with Liverpool loanees, too - it just resembles a no-brainer, all things considered.