Cardiff City

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Aaron Ramsey sacrificed a holiday this summer in order to ensure he is fit for the start of Cardiff City's new season.

Injuries limited the Wales captain, 33, to just 13 appearances for the Bluebirds last term.

Ramsey missed Wales' two friendlies in June to work on his fitness, and he then opted against a holiday for the same reason.

The former Arsenal midfielder has impressed for Cardiff in pre-season, scoring a spectacular goal in their final friendly at Bristol Rovers last weekend.

Now Ramsey is expected to feature in the Bluebirds' season opener at home to Sunderland on Saturday.

"Aaron, he had a hard summer. He didn’t go for holidays. He wanted to prepare himself," said Cardiff manager Erol Bulut.

"He wanted to prepare himself for this season to have more games for Cardiff. I hope for him to be more on the field, longer on the field than last season, to be healthy for this season."

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Midfielder Seren Watkins has left Cardiff City Women to join West Bromwich Albion.

Watkins, 20, was Cardiff’s player of the year as they won the Welsh domestic treble last season.

But she will now try to prove herself in the FA Women's National League North, the third level of the English pyramid.

Jai Semenyo has found a new club after leaving Cardiff City, with the 21-year-old signing for Eastleigh after a successful pre-season trial.

Right-sided wide player Semenyo was released at the end of last season after three years on the Bluebirds' books.

Semenyo, the younger brother of Bournemouth forward Antoine, played twice for Cardiff's senior side.

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Aaron Ramsey is hoping new Cardiff City signings Chris Willock and Calum Chambers will add an extra bit of Arsenal class to the Bluebirds' new Championship campaign, which kicks off on Saturday at home to Sunderland.

The 33-year-old midfielder left Cardiff for Arsenal in June 2008, with Ramsey spending more than a decade with the Gunners before joining Italian giants Juventus.

Attacking midfielder Willock and defender Chambers are well known to Ramsey from their Arsenal days together, and the trio are now reunited at Cardiff City Stadium following some successful summer recruitment.

"Obviously I know them both from my time at Arsenal, played with Callum for many years there and Chris a few times as well," Ramsey said after Cardiff's pre-season win over Bristol Rovers.

"So I know them pretty well, I know their qualities and they have the Arsenal sort of way, linking up, little intricate passes and pass-move sort of thing.

"I enjoyed playing with those two [at Rovers] and hopefully they can help us a lot this season."

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Cardiff City signed off their pre-season schedule with a 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.

A strong Bluebirds starting XI containing summer signings Calum Chambers and Chris Willock went close through Ollie Tanner and Yakou Meite early on.

But it was Wales captain Aaron Ramsey who unleashed an unstoppable 25-yard drive into the top corner of Josh Griffiths' net to put the visitors ahead on 28 minutes.

Taylor Moore, Grant Ward, Promise Omochere and Luke McCormick all spurned chances to bulge the net for the League One hosts, who competed well in spells against their Championship counterparts.

But Cardiff skipper Joe Ralls put the result beyond doubt with a sublime curled effort in the 56th minute as Cardiff - who gave a debut to new recruit Wilfried Kanga late on - rounded off their summer fixtures in style.

Erol Bulut's men kick-start their 2024-25 Championship campaign at home against Sunderland on 10 August (12:30 BST).

Cardiff City v Bristol Rovers: Ethan Horvath; Perry Ng, Calum Chambers (Joel Bagan 65), Dimitrios Goutas, Callum O'Dowda (Luey Giles 85); Manolis Siopis, Joe Ralls (C) (Eli King 85); Ollie Tanner (Raheem Conte 70), Aaron Ramsey (Rubin Colwill 65), Chris Willock (Cian Ashford 65); Yakou Meite (Wilfried Kanga 70).

Subs not used: Jak Alnwick, Jacob Dennis, Adeteye Gbadehan, Ronan Kpakio, Tom Davies.

It is a strong team named by Erol Bulut for today's pre-season friendly, with the Cardiff City boss opting for a 4-2-3-1 shape against Bristol Rovers.

Summer signing Calum Chambers starts at centre-back while Aaron Ramsey sits in the centre of Chris Willock and Ollie Tanner, with Yakou Meite leading the line.

Young guns including Cian Ashford and Rubin Colwill are on the bench.

Cardiff City: Ethan Horvath; Perry Ng, Calum Chambers, Dimitrios Goutas, Callum O'Dowda; Manolis Siopis, Joe Ralls (capt); Ollie Tanner, Aaron Ramsey, Chris Willock; Yakou Meite.

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New signing Wilfried Kanga could pull on a Cardiff City shirt for the first time in Saturday’s final pre-season friendly at Bristol Rovers (15:00 BST).

Wales captain Aaron Ramsey is also expected to feature along with first-team mainstays Perry Ng, Dimitrios Goutas and Manolis Siopis.

Centre-forward Kanga joined Cardiff on a season-long loan from Hertha BSC on Tuesday and Bluebirds boss Erol Bulut must mull over whether to give him a run-out.

“Maybe the last 20 mins we will try to use him," Bulut said.

"He is behind [in terms of fitness]. He did not train with the team. He was doing individual training with the ball he did not do many things. We may keep him out we may not.”

Bulut is now happy with his attacking resources, not least because of the pre-season form of Callum Robinson, who has netted six goals.

But Ivory Coast international Kanga, who is pacy and stands at 6ft 2in, very much fits the profile of what Cardiff have been seeking to add to their forward line.

Bulut said: “Last season he played in the Belgian league with Standard Liege and scored 13 goals. He can score goals, he showed that.

“I expect goals from him, he was hard-working last season and I hope he can deliver these things this season for Cardiff City and he will be positive for the team.”

Bulut is aware that his new recruits will take time to get up to speed with those Cardiff players who have had a full pre-season with the club.

But with a number of senior players having sat out Wednesday's 2-1 friendly win over Reading at the Cardiff City Stadium, the Bluebirds boss hopes to field a more experienced line-up against Rovers at the Memorial Ground.

The likes of Ramsey had a tough morning training session on Wednesday and Bulut explained the build-up to the new season has been about monitored action for players.

Defender Calum Chambers played 45 minutes against Reading, while fellow new recruit Chris Willock played half an hour in the second half.

Bulut said: “We try to give players as many minutes as possible, especially for the young and new players because some of them came late and are not fit for 90 minutes.

“We also have to be careful of injuries. That is why we try to use the players after talks with our medical staff - we don’t want to push too much the new players.

“I think in two or three weeks they will be at the top level and can continue for 90 minutes.”

Dutch winger Anwar El Ghazi, who joined in midweek, will not feature against Rovers and Bulut has made it clear the former Aston Villa player will take time to get up to speed in the new season.

Bulut said: “He has trained. We had a talk about individual training so I think he will need a minimum a month to be in a shape that he can perform for us.”

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Cardiff City boss Erol Bulut hopes Joel Colwill will follow the lead of Isaak Davies after sending the teenager out on loan.

Midfielder Colwill, 19, has joined Mike Flynn’s Cheltenham Town on a season-long loan having made five appearances for Cardiff last term.

Davies has impressed during the club’s pre-season campaign having spent last term on loan with Belgian club Kortrijk.

Bulut hopes Colwill will emulate fellow academy product Davies by developing during a spell away from the Welsh capital.

“We saw last season Isaak went for a loan, he had a great season and now he is back he delivers good football for us,” said Bulut.

“Some [other] young players will go for loans too because we want them back in a good shape. A few players will be going out, but that is the normal way in football.”

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Ipswich Town have added former Premier League defender Mark Hudson to their first team coaching staff.

The 42-year-old has been appointed as set-play and first-team coach.

Hudson made nearly 500 professional appearances as a player, representing the likes of Crystal Palace, Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town.

He began his coaching career in the Terriers' academy setup before taking caretaker charge of the first-team on two separate occasions.

The Englishman then joined Cardiff as first-team coach before being appointed manager during the 2022-23 season. He went on to spend the 2023-24 campaign coaching in the Premier League with Sheffield United.

Hudson has been working with the Ipswich squad during pre-season and flew to Germany with the group on Wednesday for the club's training camp.

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Callum Robinson took his pre-season tally up to six goals, scoring twice in Cardiff City's 2-1 victory over Reading.

Dutch winger Anwar El Ghazi watched from the directors' box as a host of big guns - including Wales skipper Aaron Ramsey - were not included.

Robinson charged down an attempted clearance to give Cardiff a fourth minute lead, before Femi Azeez flashed the ball home on 12 minutes to equalise.

Former Queens Park Rangers forward Chris Willock had his first outing at the Cardiff City Stadium in the second half, being denied by two good saves. Wales midfielder Charlie Savage also entered the fray for League One Reading.

Robinson's winner came 12 minutes from time, converting a deftly curled cross from substitute Luey Giles.

Cardiff complete their pre-season preparations away to League One outfit Bristol Rovers, on Saturday.

They kick off their Championship campaign at home to Sunderland on 10 August.