19th. Cardiff City
Cardiff City were definitely one of the hardest teams to place for me. Im sure me predicting that theyll finish 19th next season will come as a surprise to many considering the money they have spent so far this summer. But I just have a feeling they may be in trouble. Although, saying that, I wouldn't be surprised if they finished mid-table. Cardiff won the Championship last season comfortably but their second-half form slumped slightly. Thats probably because they were so far ahead and probably wont mean anything next season. Im just not convinced about them as of yet.
The signing of Steven Caulker is a brilliant one and I am a little surprised he went there. Im also surprised Tottenham let him go, especially after
Vertonghens injury. But theyll need to make a couple more signings like that in my opinion. They could well do but I am making this prediction at the start of August when they have a whole month to improve their squad. If they do they will have a great chance of staying up but as it stands I think they might be in trouble. They've already broken their transfer record three times this transfer window, with the latest being
Gary Medel from Sevilla, but I still think they need more. Cardiff City, like Hull, never had a player who scored more than 10 Championship goals. But, they had several players who chipped in with a few here and there. Unsurprisingly
their first signing was a striker, Andreas Cornelius. Hell definitely improve their team but I dont think hell be their 20-goal-a-season man.
Key Player: Craig Bellamy.
Transfers In So Far:Steven Caulker from Tottenham for £8 million.
Andreas Cornelius from FC Copenhagen for £7.5 million.
Simon Moore from Brentford for an undisclosed fee.
John Brayford from Derby for £1.5 million.
Gary Medel from Sevilla for £9.5 million.
Possible First Fixture Team (vs. West Ham): GK: Marshall RB: McNaughton CB: Caulker CB: Hudson LB: Taylor CM: Whittingham CM: Medel CM: Kim LW: Bellamy RW: Noone ST: Cornelius