" MALKY PLAYED THE WAITING GAME "

Tuesday 17th Sept 2013.


Kevin Theophile-Catherine burst onto the Cardiff City scene at Hull on Saturday and impressed pundits far and wide. But Malky Mackay has now revealed how he had to wait until the very end of the summer transfer window to land him.

Malky Mackay was forced to bide his time in the pursuit of Kevin Theophile-Catherine after the French right-back was injured playing for Rennes.

Mackay revealed a deal to sign ‘Theo’ might well have been agreed early in the summer, but the potential move was put on hold and finally completed just before the transfer window closed.

“He’s a player we have tracked for a while,” said Mackay.

“Kevin was injured near the end of last season which wasn’t ideal, so we took our time. It was crucial to be 100%.

“We had to let him start this season in France and have a look at him, just to confirm what we thought.

“That’s exactly what happened and we have signed a boy who is 23-years-old and was the leader of the back line for Rennes. Kevin played a lot of French First Division games.

“He is strong, extremely, quick, very aggressive. He speaks great English and is an absolute dream of a boy in terms of his personality. He just gets on with things.”

Cardiff’s head of recruitment Iain Moody and his scouts watched Theophile-Catherine closely when he started this season in French League football.

He played 90 minutes for Rennes in their first three matches of the season, against Stade de Reims (2-1 win), Nice (1-2 defeat) and Evian (2-1 win).

Reports back to Mackay all confirmed he was fit and back to his best. City made their move, completing the £2.1m signing a week after his final appearance for Rennes.

Right-back Theophile-Catherine, from Saint Brieuc in Brittany, north west France, was in the final year of his contract with Rennes and Mackay believes he was a bargain buy.

Cardiff agreed a fee of £2.1m and ‘TC’ has signed a four-year contract with City.

“Because he was going into the last year of his contract, we got Kevin at a really good price,” said Mackay. “Rennes were excellent to deal with and I feel it’s been a really good buy for us.

“The recruitment staff worked on it hard. At one stage we didn’t know if it was going to happen and, thankfully, just before the end of the transfer window, we managed to get it done.”

Theophile-Catherine, 23, is one of a new breed of young, forceful players in Mackay’s squad.

He is recruiting a squad full of talented players at the right ages. Danish centre-forward Andreas Cornelius and Uruguayan defender Maxi Amondarain are both aged 20, Jordon Mutch and Steven Caulker 21. Declan John, a left-back from Merthyr Tydfil, is only 18-years-old and has had a taste of Premier League football.

Theophile-Catherine looks a player who will, on the evidence of his City debut at Hull on Saturday, make a major impact at the top level this season. He was solid and decisive when Hull had the ball and was quick to get forward whenever the opportunity arose.

“Players who can attack and defend are the ones that kick on,” says Mackay. “Kevin has a great athleticism about him and a desire to defend properly.

“We threw Kevin on and he got on with it. That shows great character.”

Theophile-Catherine spent more than six seasons with Rennes, playing a key role as they won the French Under-18 Cup in 2007 and the National Under-19 trophy a year later.

He made his first team debut against Le Mans in the League Cup and made his first French League appearance in a goalless draw against Lille, both during 2009, while he signed a first professional contract in the same year.

‘TC’ made almost 100 first team appearances for Rennes, more than 60 of those over the last two seasons.

“It’s been a big dream of mine to play Premier League football since I was a child,” says Theophile-Catherine, who signed for Cardiff on September 1 after watching their goalless draw against Everton the previous day.

He is now preparing for a home debut against Spurs in front of a sell-out 27,000-plus Cardiff City Stadium attendance this Sunday (4pm) and says: “I loved the stadium atmosphere against Everton and will enjoy playing in front of Cardiff fans.”

Sounds like a quality player. All these players are young as well so great future investments.

Even more established players like Gunnar are young and Kim is at a good age as well. The future is looking good.

FairPlay to MM, this transfer could of easily been messed up if he rushed it.

World class player and he'll be the next Thuram. Watch this space. I cant see him staying with us for very long as I think Barcelona need a player of his ability to replace Alves. Good signing Malky, future Barcelona star and legend.

Malky says he has been watching every player for ages, even the rubbish ones lol

Malky says he has been watching every player for ages, even the rubbish ones lol

We've never had one rubbish player. You must be thinking of Swansea. Every Cardiff player is class.

Malky says he has been watching every player for ages, even the rubbish ones lol

We've never had one rubbish player. You must be thinking of Swansea. Every Cardiff player is class.

Im talking about Etien.

Not sure why you have turned into the forum clown again, every post ive read of yours is once again pure attention seeking nonsense. Why cant you just post your honest opinion like you were for a while instead of all this nonsense in thread after thread.

Etien isn't bad from what's been seen. We just have always had better infront of him.

Malky says he has been watching every player for ages, even the rubbish ones lol

“He’s a player we have tracked for a while,” said Mackay.

He says this every time

Seems like a very good signing. Is he the first Breton to play in the Premier league? Welcome to another fellow Celt

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Loved that piece of skill he did Saturday before whipping it in for guns..

Etien isn't bad from what's been seen. We just have always had better infront of him.

Maybe but the 1m could have been spent better.

But yes all in all I'm more than happy with MM purchases

Do you think this may be reason why Brayford was signed? Malky didn't want to leave himself short just in case this deal didn't come off?

Etien isn't bad from what's been seen. We just have always had better infront of him.

Maybe but the 1m could have been spent better.

But yes all in all I'm more than happy with MM purchases

We bought him before alot of the star players he can't get infront of. But yeah an extra 1mil could of gone elsewhere but maybe we get some of that money back at a later date if we sell him. Im sure he will do well in the championship for another team because he looked decent.

Do you think this may be reason why Brayford was signed? Malky didn't want to leave himself short just in case this deal didn't come off?

Can only guess but I think that was part of it, also that brayford hasn't impressed enough. If he had he would surely have been ahead of Connally.