The Bluebirds have succeeded in their shark-hunting mission.
Manager Neil Warnock has snapped up Harrow Borough pace ace Ibrahim Meite, a 20-year-old striker who is known as ‘The Shark’ due to his predatory instincts.
Meite, who is from South West London, has had a trial spell with manager Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City and attracted interest from a number of Premier League clubs, but Warnock has moved in quickly to snap him up.
Less than five years ago Leicester dipped into non-League football and signed Jamie Vardy from Conference club Fleetwood Town. His goals helped the Foxes win Championship and Premier League titles.
Meite has not been under contract with Ryman League Harrow and Cardiff won’t officially have to pay a transfer fee.
Warnock has confirmed that he has signed a non-League forward, but the Bluebirds have not yet officially confirmed who the player is.
Meite was tracked by scouts throughout Harrow’s FA Cup run this season, scoring in three successive rounds as they progressed to the first round proper before losing at Northampton Town.
Meite, a tall, rangy striker with a long stride and an explosive burst of pace, has been a prolific scorer for Harrow this season, netting 17 times in 30 appearances.
He grew up on a council estate in Roehampton, south-west London, and admits he put playing football in the street with his friends ahead of homework.
“I came from not a very good area and grew up with a love of football, the bad pitches,” said Meite. “I never came from an academy or anything like that, it was just football every day after school.
“Around 15 and 16 I was a bit naughty, not going to school, and my parents sent me to the Ivory Coast for two years. I was in a football academy there.
“But it was good experience, it made me who I am.”
Meite also went to America to expand his football knowledge and then returned to London where he worked with the AG Football Academy before joining Harrow.
Chelsea are among Premier League clubs who have watched Meite, while AFC Wimbledon, Bristol City, Oxford and Peterborough have also tracked the striker.
Harrow Borough manager Steve Baker says: “He’s still very raw, but his potential is absolutely huge. He’s got pace to burn and scores goals. If you’ve got those two attributes you’ve got a real chance of being a success in the game.
“He’s not under contract at the club, which is disappointing. But there have been occasions at our club and other non-league clubs in the past when Football League clubs give us a fee or put clauses into contracts as they know our situation, so hopefully that would happen.”
Cardiff’s next match is against Fulham at home in the FA Cup this Sunday (11.30am). Meite, of course, is ineligible because he has already played for Harrow in the competition.