Malky: Im not in the market for another striker

Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay insists he has the men in place already to score goals in the Premier League.

Following the arrival of record £8.5m signing Andreas Cornelius from FC Copenhagen last month, Mackay has revealed he is not in the market for any more frontmen unless “something incredible comes along”.

Denmark striker Cornelius will now fight for a starting spot alongside Mackay’s other two main marksmen Fraizer Campbell and Nicky Maynard.

Campbell was brought in from Sunderland in January and hit the ground running as he contributed vital goals to the Bluebirds’ promotion cause.

Maynard, the big summer signing last year when he joined from West Ham for £2.5m, missed almost the whole of his debut season with a cruciate knee injury. But the 26-year-old is fit again and fighting for a Premier League berth.

Mackay also expects Joe Mason and Rudy Gestede to be pushing for action next season.

But the future of Slovenian striker Etien Velikonja is in doubt, with the 24-year-old not having travelled to the club’s Swiss training camp last week.

But the ‘big three’ charged with firing City to Premier League survival right now are Cornelius, Maynard and Campbell – and Mackay believes that represents a pretty formidable trio.

“I’ve got three really good and exciting young centre-forwards here in Maynard, Campbell and Cornelius,” he said. “I would be more than content to go into the new season with those three.

“It is not a position that I am looking at right now unless something incredible comes up. We’ve just signed a top young international centre forward and I’ve got two exciting young strikers forwards already here.

“Don’t forget, I’ve also got two young lads in Joe and Rudy and I think they are going to push on now too.”


New £8.5m man Andreas Cornelius is expected to start as first-choice in the Premier League. Big, strong but still with a lot to learn, Cornelius will wear the number nine shirt

Nicky Maynard's season was decimated by injury last year but he came back to score in the final match. Maynard was bought to fire the Bluebirds to promotion. Now he is tasked with scoring the goals to secure survival.

Signed from Sunderland in January, Fraizer Campbell's seven goals in 12 matches were the vital ingredient to haul Cardiff over the line. Favourite to start alongside Cornelius

Rudy Gestede has never totally convinced since joining Cardiff but he will be in and around the squad and could still get his chance as an impact player.

Strong links with Bournemouth this summer but Malky Mackay insists Joe Mason will not be going anywhere at this stage. Limited opportunities last season after being so impressive the year before. Has the tools to make it at the top level but is down the pecking order

Craig Bellamy remains the heartbeat of the Cardiff squad as they head to the Premier League but he is not an out and out striker like the rest of the contenders and could well play out wide. Wherever and whenever he plays, Bellamy will be key, though

Etien Velikonja's future at the club seems in bigger doubt than ever before after he failed to join the squad on the pre-season tour of Switzerland. Barely featured last year and is highly unlikely to in the Premier League



All eyes though will be on Cornelius who, for a 20-year-old, looks as if he will have a great deal of responsibility on his shoulders in City’s first top flight campaign in more than half a century.

Having risen through the youth ranks at Copenhagen, Cornelius hit 18 goals last season as the club lifted the Superliga title. And the 6ft 4in marksman has already started to make his mark at international level with seven senior caps so far.

Cornelius opened his international goal account too in January, scoring in Denmark’s 1-1 draw with Mexico.

The young Dane joined up with his new team-mates at Cardiff’s training camp on the shores of Lake Geneva last week as Mackay puts his troops through double training sessions.

The squad returned home on Sunday and now go straight into their pre-season friendly fixtures, starting with a trip to Forest Green Rovers tomorrow evening.



With the start of the Premier League season less than a month away, and Mackay due to take his side to former club West Ham on the opening weekend, things are certainly starting to hot up for the Bluebirds ahead of their historic season. When it comes to his new striker, Mackay is predicting big things for Cornelius and believes the frontman is going to slot in nicely to the Bluebirds’ style of play.

“I’m delighted with Andreas so far,” he said.

“His test results have been impressive. His strength and his speed have also impressed me, particularly his speed for a man of his size.

“He’s a typical Scandinavian in the way that he sits so comfortably into the British style of football.

“He fits in perfectly into our style. It’s off the pitch too, his chat his conversation, just the boy that he is really. He’s still young and he’s still learning, but I believe we’ve got a really good talent on our hands.”

Of course, one of the big decisions Mackay must make is which system to employ when it comes to his strikers.

Will he go with one man up front – a role Cornelius, Campbell and even Maynard are capable of playing?

Or will he go with a strike partnership and, if so, which players does he put together to cause the most problems to Premier League defenders?

Mackay said he will be experimenting ahead of the new campaign to see which permutation will serve him best.

Whichever way he goes it will be a big decision as goal-scoring will determine how well City do in the top flight.

“The pre-season is all about looking at what can work and which players can work together as far as I’m concerned,” added Mackay.

“You get the chance to look at people playing together and decide which way you want to go.”

I'd put Etien out on loan for the season - it's not like he's had much of a chance anyway...

This makes every1 who was moaning about us missing out on Oliveira look a tad bit stupid

Be awesome if he was in the market for some players. Need a winger, CM, LB, CB maybe RB and a GK.

starting to get worried by the lack of activity this season, going to end up doing a Reading.

Malky pull a f*cking signing out mun

Here we go again, giving interviews on our new 1 player and current squad, get buying and stop acting like your patient.

This makes every1 who was moaning about us missing out on Oliveira look a tad bit stupid

Yeah course it does

Damage limtation from the king of spin.

All of the above comments prove a lot of our fans are f*cking knobheads

Good. Strengthen our defence he needs to.

All of the above comments prove a lot of our fans are f*cking knobheads

Says the guy with a knob for a name.

Very apt.

All of the above comments prove a lot of our fans are f*cking knobheads

Nope, just fans who are honest.

All of the above comments prove a lot of our fans are f*cking knobheads

Damn us for wanting us to strengthen

All of the above comments prove a lot of our fans are f*cking knobheads

Damn us for wanting us to strengthen

Who says we won't.

I also noticed none of you decided to post in this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=118046&view=unread#unread

I also noticed none of you decided to post in this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=118046&view=unread#unread

Because we already had a core Championship team, now we're in the Premier League, we're out of depth and need to strengthen m8 x

I also noticed none of you decided to post in this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=118046&view=unread#unread

Because we already had a core Championship team, now we're in the Premier League, we're out of depth and need to strengthen m8 x

Are you missing the point?

Or are you one of those retards who were expecting 11 new signings?

I also noticed none of you decided to post in this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=118046&view=unread#unread

Because we already had a core Championship team, now we're in the Premier League, we're out of depth and need to strengthen m8 x

Are you missing the point?

Or are you one of those retards who were expecting 11 new signings?

Youre the one missing the point.

We need squad depth improvement last year.

We need major first XI impovement this year.

I also noticed none of you decided to post in this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=118046&view=unread#unread

Because we already had a core Championship team, now we're in the Premier League, we're out of depth and need to strengthen m8 x

Are you missing the point?

Or are you one of those retards who were expecting 11 new signings?

Youre the one missing the point.

We need squad depth improvement last year.

We need major first XI impovement this year.

I'm not missing the point. The point is this time last year we had only signed two players. Then signed a shit load more in August.
The quality of the players has nothing to do with it.
f*cking hell I'm glad your not a man utd fan you'd of probably hung yourself with just one signing losing the first two friendlys

Dull as f**k. If I was a man u fan id be not worried in the slightest as we had the best team and squad last year and its up to.others to catch up.

Dull as f**k. If I was a man u fan id be not worried in the slightest as we had the best team and squad last year and its up to.others to catch up.

They f*cking are catching them you tool

To make things worse one of there best players wants to leave and they've just lost probably the best manager ever.

Your blatantly clueless about football.

Last year is irrelevant as we had got into the play offs the season before and only needed to strengthen in a few key areas which we did. This season we have taken the biggest step up in football and if we don't sign anyone we will find ourselves in for a shock. We are literally 6-7 players short of a competitive side.

Not moaning but I am being realistic, we need to get start signing players ASAP.

Dull as f**k. If I was a man u fan id be not worried in the slightest as we had the best team and squad last year and its up to.others to catch up.

They f*cking are catching them you tool

To make things worse one of there best players wants to leave and they've just lost probably the best manager ever.

Your blatantly clueless about football.

Go and stand in the corner you clem

Last year is irrelevant as we had got into the play offs the season before and only needed to strengthen in a few key areas which we did. This season we have taken the biggest step up in football and if we don't sign anyone we will find ourselves in for a shock. We are literally 6-7 players short of a competitive side.

Not moaning but I am being realistic, we need to get start signing players ASAP.

Only you, Polo and COP has sense.

Dull as f**k. If I was a man u fan id be not worried in the slightest as we had the best team and squad last year and its up to.others to catch up.

They f*cking are catching them you tool

To make things worse one of there best players wants to leave and they've just lost probably the best manager ever.

Your blatantly clueless about football.

Go and stand in the corner you clem

No you backward dull thick f*cking retard.

Dull as f**k. If I was a man u fan id be not worried in the slightest as we had the best team and squad last year and its up to.others to catch up.

They f*cking are catching them you tool

To make things worse one of there best players wants to leave and they've just lost probably the best manager ever.

Your blatantly clueless about football.

Go and stand in the corner you clem

No you backward dull thick f*cking retard.

Stop talking to yourself ffs

Dull as f**k. If I was a man u fan id be not worried in the slightest as we had the best team and squad last year and its up to.others to catch up.

They f*cking are catching them you tool

To make things worse one of there best players wants to leave and they've just lost probably the best manager ever.

Your blatantly clueless about football.

Go and stand in the corner you clem

No you backward dull thick f*cking retard.

Stop talking to yourself ffs

Well I'm not if you answering

NO Jordan Rhodes then

A defender or two would be nice Malk. If we're set for a strikeforce, and solid at the back, we can make do with the midfielders we have. Especially when you look at the amount of talent we have in there

This makes every1 who was moaning about us missing out on Oliveira look a tad bit stupid

Yeah course it does

Damage limtation from the king of spin.

Hardly isit? just proves how much shit the media spin.

But yeah if you say so we missed out and malkt couldn't close a pair of curtains..

If it was damaged limitation he would just move on to another forward target IF we were after one..