By Gareth James
Steve Morison believes there will be no January sales rush when the transfer window opens next week.
The Cardiff City manager is predicting a slow start to the month for all clubs with worries over the impact of Covid-19 resulting in reluctance to sell players or let them go out on loan.
Morison – who might have been expecting to do some wheeling and dealing, mainly around loan deals – thinks all managers will need a lot of convincing to let players leave when the virus is still decimating squad strength throughout the leagues.
“In all honesty, this latest outbreak we’re in of Covid, I would be highly surprised if anyone does any business before the back end of January,” said the former Wales striker.
“Every team we speak to, they can’t be releasing players. They need them in case they have a Covid outbreak. Everybody’s in the same boat.
“I think it’s going to be a really late market, and that won’t be for a want of trying. It will be more about the fact people are in a completely different scenario.
🗣️ “I think that we can be a dangerous side against anyone, so it’s about us all doing our jobs properly.”
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— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) December 28, 2021
“They’ve got players who could possibly go out on loan but then they have two or three players come down with Covid and they need to keep them and put them on the bench.
“We need to get through this wave now. Some of the big boys might do something but I think people will be very reluctant to let people go until we’re hopefully out the other side of what we’re in at the minute.”
Cardiff has four players out on loan at the moment. Midfielder Ryan Wintle and winger Josh Murphy are at Championship rivals Blackpool and Preston North End respectively, while striker Max Watters and winger Gavin Whyte are with League One clubs MK Dons and Oxford United.
All four are season-long loans but Cardiff could consider recalling them in January.
“We can only call them back at certain times,” said Morison.
“When those dates approach we’ll decide whether we’ll call them back or not.”
Cardiff themselves have been badly affected by positive tests among their squad, with more players left unavailable than ready to play.
That meant the club’s last two matches were postponed, meaning Thursday night’s visit to Championship leaders Bournemouth will be the Bluebirds’ first game since December 11.
The good news for Morison is that the break – and isolated training for the whole squad – appears to have had the desired effect with no new cases being reported.
“Everyone has now not got Covid,” added Morison.
“We’re ticking as many boxes as we can to prepare ourselves as best we can for Bournemouth.
“We haven’t had rhythm or routine because we’ve all been at home.
The #Bluebirds head to the Vitality Stadium on Thursday evening!
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— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) December 28, 2021
“We’re back on the grass now and back in the building with slightly different measures. We train, we get our food and go home so it’s slightly different to what it was, but the main thing is that everyone is healthy and as fit as they can be.
“But the gap hasn’t been positive at all. It’s been like a mid-season break, enforced. Effectively, the lads have had 10 to 12 days completely off their feet. The amount of players we had infected, they weren’t even allowed to leave their house.
“They were at a different level of fitness to what they were prior. The lads who did get it could do a little more [fitness work].
“That’s just the facts. We can’t worry about it. If we start worrying about it, then it becomes a bigger problem than it is. We just need to get on with it.
“The protocols put in place mean we have to play three days after coming out of isolation, as long as you have no reactions.”