In light of the club’s two unsuccessful attempts to sign Kieffer Moore, Cardiff City manager Erol Bulut made joke of the situation by saying that he and Moore will be “friends again” after the game against Ipswich Town this weekend, following the club’s two failed attempts to sign him.
Moore, who finished his final season in south Wales with 20 league goals, was wanted back to Cardiff by the Bluebirds for the summer. Cardiff once more made the Wales striker their primary priority during the winter transfer window after being let down.
But at the end of the transfer window, Moore chose to join promotion-chasing Ipswich, depriving Cardiff of a striker. In his first eight games for his loan team, he has scored five goals, continuing his excellent start in East Anglia.
As Cardiff plays Ipswich on Saturday afternoon, they will undoubtedly need to silence Moore if they want to extend their winning streak to five games. Speaking of his fruitless attempts to sign the forward, Bulut remarked, “We are now his rivals!
“We were planning with him at the start of the season and also in January. He made his decision to move to Ipswich, we have to respect this. But on Saturday, we are opponents. After the game, when we win the game, we can be friends again!
“He has good quality as a striker, what every team wants. That’s why we wanted him here. On Saturday, we have to stop him.”
Cardiff presented what they believed to be a fair offer, but Ipswich was prepared to pay more in salary, which probably made the arrangement more enticing for Bournemouth.
Furthermore, Bulut thinks that Moore was probably drawn to the Tractor Boys due to the possibility of advancement and continuing with them, should they make it to the top division.
“Ipswich are in a different position, maybe getting promoted, so a player maybe decides to join these kinds of teams, not a team who is in the eighth, ninth, 10th position,” Bulut said
“It is more possible for him to get promoted and to continue with the same team, that’s why I think he made the decision.”