By Paul Jones
Cardiff City boss Steve Morison believes his young striker Isaak Davies was hung out to dry in the recent transfer stalemate with Burnley.
A fee of £2.5m was allegedly offered by last season’s Premier League fall guys to Cardiff for the 20-year-old earlier this week and was immediately turned down by the Bluebirds.
But Morison believes the way in which the deal was aired in public has left the player with a burden to carry when he returns to action after recovering from a knee injury.
“The club didn’t want to sell him and neither did I. He doesn’t have a price at the moment because we don’t know how good he is going to be,” said Morison.
“He had to take a bit of stick in training about the whole thing this week. His reply was that he just wants to play.
“I remember when it happened to me, as soon as you had a bad game everyone said you don’t want to be here and then when you have a good game, they claim it’s because you are trying to get away. You literally cannot win.
“Some of the people around him are close and connected to the football club and that’s what disappointed me most. What we want is for his development as a player to come first and for the fans to erupt, as they do, every time he comes onto the pitch.”
Vincent Kompany on Isaak Davies interest: “Yeah (it’s true). The problem is if we go through the scouting list it’s expensive but not every deal is feasible. There are players where you have to respect the club doesn’t want to let him go.” #CCFC #Bluebirds https://t.co/dGNUvLc4rc
— Glen Williams (@GlenWilliams12) August 10, 2022
Davies signed a contract extension last season which should keep him at the Welsh capital club until the end of the 2025-26 season.
The Wales Under-21 international impressed with three goals in 30 appearances last term and in March the club extended his contract.
“I don’t know why this was ever released to the press. Now he has to deal with everyone asking him that question about the move, which is just another challenge for him to deal with,” added Morison.
“Why didn’t they wait until they had a deal in place and then bring it to the front door?
“Ultimately, the club didn’t want to sell him. They asked me if I want to sell him. I don’t want to sell him.
Don’t understand people saying they’d even sell Isaak Davies for £3-6m at this point.
Just signed a new deal until 2025, clearly has a part to play.
Let’s keep pushing our youngsters, especially those who are Cardiff through and through.
Easily worth 8 figures in the future. pic.twitter.com/EUnI8C8eO6
— The Canton End (@TheCantonEnd) August 9, 2022
“There’s only two ways that changes. That’s if a player asks to leave for whatever reason and then obviously you have to deal with that.
“Everyone has their price. But for me, right now, Isaak Davies doesn’t have a price because we don’t know how good he is. We don’t know what his value is yet.
“He’s a young pup in the scheme of things and he’s got a lot to learn. I just think the best place for him to do that is here in front of his own fans and in front of his parents week in, week out at Cardiff City Stadium.
“It (the link) came as a surprise to me. It came out of nowhere. I know their manager has commented on it, which is strange situation as they don’t normally.”