Here’s Cardiff City’s top news for Thursday 30th November.

Boro and Cardiff are linked with the defender

Cardiff and Middlesbrough were linked with Egyptian defender Ahmed Hegazi ahead of the January transfer window.

The Bluebirds are looking to strengthen their defense in the new year, with just three senior centre-backs (Mark McGuinness, Dimitrios Goutas and Jonathan Panso) currently in the squad. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

Erol Bulut has already expressed his intention to try to sign four players in the winter window, with a striker, a midfielder and a left-back believed to be in play. But centre-back will certainly be an area the Bluebirds manager will want to focus on.

And team talk I think the answer could be Hegazi, who plays for the Saudi club “Al-Ittihad”. However, it remains questionable whether he fits the profile. He also suffered an ACL injury in recent months that required surgery, so it seems unlikely at the time of this writing.

However, Bulut admitted this afternoon that Cardiff lack players in this area and are likely to target him in January.

“We don’t have enough players in this position,” Bulut said today. – We took Panzo to play some friendlies, but he wasn’t prepared enough to use him. He’s improving, but we still have a small problem with the defender’s position. “If a player is missing, I have to make some changes.”

The report claims that Boro, Cardiff and Premier League duo Sheffield United and Burnley are monitoring the defender, who appears to have fallen out of favor with the Saudi top-flight side after more than three years there.

Fans here will know the 32-year-old from his time at West Brom between 2017 and 2021.

PRESS CONFERENCE: Every word on Errol Bulut and Callum Robinson ahead of Southampton

Rising rugby star spent time with the Bluebirds and his ‘best friend’ Davies

Cardiff rugby winger Alex Mann has spoken about his time at Cardiff City’s academy and his best friend Isaac Davies.

Mann is one of the young rugby players catching the eye in Wales, having produced another excellent performance in last week’s victory over the Stormers, which you can read about here.

The imposing full-back was once a Bluebirds defender and could have opted for the round ball, but is now thriving with the city’s rugby team and preparing for a big season.

“I used to play for Cardiff City with my best friend Isaac Davies, who still plays now,” said Mann. “I played for three years. I remember that at school I went back to playing rugby because I had a broken elbow and then I started playing football. But I started playing rugby again and I knew it was for me, it was a natural choice.

“I got football right in my head and luckily I’m here. I was a central defender, but I was too tough for football!

“I wouldn’t want to touch him (Isaac) because he’s very fast. I would have to grab it. We grew up in class together and he’s probably my best friend. We always play together. just give it to him and he’ll score, so it must have made me look good. It’s brilliant growing up with him. He is very disciplined with his professionalism. Now he’s on loan (to KV Kortrijk), but when he plays I hit him in the stands.

“I received a lot of (letters when I played). I think that was the problem. My father stood outside the entire time with his head in his hands. There were a lot of fast guys to drag around.”

Southampton goal before Bluebirds clash

Southampton will be without striker Ross Stewart when the Bluebirds visit St Mary’s this weekend.

Stewart missed the Saints’ first 11 games with an Achilles injury, but returned from the bench against West Brom earlier this month to make his debut for the club. He played again against Huddersfield in the following match.

But he missed the game against Bristol City in midweek and manager Russell Martin said he will not be involved this weekend either.

“We evaluated him, but today he couldn’t be in the team [against Bristol City] and he won’t be in the team on Saturday,” said the former Swansea manager.

“We hope to have an update on Friday with a clearer answer regarding Ross and his situation – it has been reviewed.”

“It’s a muscle injury, not the Achilles injury, the Achilles injury is fine. “He found himself in a very uncomfortable situation at the end of Saturday’s game.”