What to expect from Cardiff City’s new pocket rocket midfielder who surprised everyone by leaving Turkey
Manolis Siopis left Trabzonspor to link up with Erol Bulut at Cardiff City
Cardiff City have been at pains to sort out their imbalanced and one-dimensional midfield for a few seasons now.
It is an area of the squad which has drawn much debate in recent years, with changing personnel and styles of play having a big impact on City’s ability to dominate games and create from the middle of the park.
Erol Bulut identified central midfield as a key position in which he needed to bolster if Cardiff had any designs on troubling the top half of the Championship table this season.
It has been difficult, given this is the last window under which Cardiff will serve a ban on paying fees for players, and the deal to bring Manolis Siopis to the Welsh capital was a protracted one owing to the complication process. Siopis had to essentially buy himself out of his own contract at Trabzonspor to force a move to Cardiff as a free agent.
But Bulut finally got his man. He is a player Bulut knows well from his time in Turkey, where he signed him to Alanyaspor from Greek club Aris and Siopis has gone from strength to strength in the four years since.
The Greece international, 29, came on for his Cardiff debut against Leicester City last Saturday after just one day of training with his new team-mates. He was introduced for the final half an hour of the match and we saw glimpses of his fleetness of foot, particularly in defence and his busy work in the engine room in trying to offload some of the pressure on Cardiff’s defence.
The diminutive midfielder also looked comfortable driving the ball away from Cardiff’s goal as the game and space opened up. But it must be stressed it was only a fleeting glimpse and Bulut expects far more from him in the coming weeks.
Speaking after the game at Leicester, Bulut said: “I think everyone saw what he can change in the game. He can stay calm on the ball. He can play the passing game and his defensive work is really strong.
“We saw with the ball and without the ball how he works. He can make metres with the ball. Defensively, he can help us and he can stay calm on the ball.
“In the next games, it will be much better when he knows his team-mates better and they know him better.”
It is expected that Siopis, given how much emphasis was placed on bringing him in during this window, will be one of the nailed-on starters for Bulut going forward.
Given the manager prefers a 4-2-3-1, he will occupy one of the two pivot roles at the base of the midfield, tasked with breaking up play and allowing the more attack-minded players to do the damage further up the pitch. According to journalist Burak Özdemir, who writes for top Turkish outlet Fanatik, that is the player’s bread and butter.
“The reason he scores so few goals himself is because he operates far from the opponent’s goal. He is highly specialised in cutting out opponents’ attacks. He gives the ball he has won to his team-mates,” Burak told us.
“Siopis is a very energetic defensive midfielder. He is very talented in winning the ball and adding tempo to the game. He will add great energy to the middle of the pitch for Cardiff.”
Siopis transferred to Trabzonspor in 2021 and was instrumental in helping them win the Turkish Super Lig and Turkish Super Cup in the same season.
That sort of winning mentality will be important to a squad which has, by and large, seen only relegation battles in the last couple of seasons. Bulut has spoken about changing that mentality and he will hope Siopis’ recent success in Turkey and the instrumental part he played in it can have some bearing on turning City’s fortunes around.
It was a surprise to those in Turkey that he left Trabzon, though, given he had a year left to run on his deal there and he was even offered a new three-year contract to stay. The terms of that exit settlement have been reported by outlets and journalists in Turkey which state that Siopis had to pay €242,500 (£207,000) to exit his contract and his agent had to waive €257,500 (£220,000) he was due from the club.
The sheer willing and financial commitment shown to get the player out of his contract will serve to delight Bluebirds fans, even if it came as a surprise to the footballing fraternity in Turkey.
“We were all surprised that he left Trabzonspor,” Burak added. “The first person to bring Siopis to Turkey was Erol Bulut and he played very well under him in Alanyaspor. Then he transferred to Trabzonspor where he won the league.
“For Trabzonspor, he was one of the best players in the season the club was crowned Turkish champions. He’s a good team player. If he plays with quality players, he draws attention with his performance.
“I think Cardiff City have signed a good midfielder.”
