Fowler coup for Cardiff

Cardiff City have pulled off a major coup by signing former Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler on a free transfer. For my money, Fowler is one of the best finishers the British game has seen over the last 10 years. I don’t recall ever seeing him waste chances inside the box or from the penalty spot and despite his loss of pace, I still think he has a lot left to offer a club at the Championship or even Premier League level.

His arrival comes just over a week after Cardiff sold last season’s top scorer Michael Chopra to Sunderland for £4.5m. Bluebirds boss Dave Jones revealed he would have signed Fowler even if Chopra had stayed, and stressed the former England striker still has the hunger to be successful.

Fowler joins former Man City teammate Trevor Sinclair at the club and becomes Cardiff’s sixth summer signing of the summer, following Sinclair, former Rangers midfielder Gavin Rae, Steven MacLean, Tony Capaldi and Michael Oakes.

Banking £4.5m for Chopra and then getting Robbie Fowler on a free transfer is very good business and should put the club in a healthy position. Cardiff had been struggling to find funds for new player acquisitions but hopefully that will be eased now. Except for Capaldi, all of Cardiff’s signings this summer have been free transfer deals.

Australian club Sydney FC had hoped to lure Fowler, and the former England striker was impressed with the set up after travelling to Australia for talks. Sydney were unable to compete financially with the other offers for Fowler. Fowler also has a young family and several business interests in the UK, so a deal closer to home was always the most likely scenario.

Jones revealed he still wants to bring in a goalkeeper and another striker before the start of the season, but rubbished reports that Cardiff had agreed terms on a £1m deal to sign Blackburn’s Francis Jeffers.