Mick McCarthy makes shock transfer admission on ex-Arsenal starlet
Mick McCarthy has revealed the club actually came close to signing current Huddersfield striker Yaya Sanogo.
Saturday 6th February 2021
Sanogo joined Huddersfield on a free transfer back in February, a move which happened outside of the transfer window, and McCarthy has now revealed that Cardiff came close to signing the former Arsenal starlet themselves, only for their efforts to be scuppered by work permit issues.
"I'm so happy he missed it, Sanogo, because we were in discussions with him to come to us," he explained.
"We couldn't do it because of the rules with the Welsh FA. ?"
"So why could we not sign the lad?"
"He's come to an English club, and whether they've got different rules, Huddersfield managed to sign him, despite his deficiency in points."
"Now Brexit comes in, you have to have 15 points. You get certain points by which club you play for, if you're a senior at internationals. There's different criteria that need to be met, and he didn't have enough points.
"We asked the FAW and we were told we couldn't appeal against it. I think Huddersfield appealed against it and managed to sign him.
"That's what I was told. He didn't have enough.
"I thought it was going to be sod's law that he'd score the winner, so I was even happier still when he missed it."
McCarthy's efforts to sign a striker back in January also saw them explore the possibility of taking Jordan Rhodes from Sheffield Wednesday, and indeed Cameron Jerome, but again a move never materialised for either of them.
It's clearly still at the forefront of McCarthy's mind, with the City boss admitting concerns over the scenario of being without talismanic striker Kieffer Moore.
"Everybody knows, it's as plain as the nose on my face that we don't really have a replacement for Kieffer Moore. But it just didn't happen.
"But it gives the opportunity to play Rubin Colwill as well, so some of our kids get a chance to play, rather than taking someone who's been round the block."
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