Opinion: Cardiff City would regret not paying potential six-figure asking price for 27-year-old

Championship side Middlesbrough want to recoup the £750,000 they spent last summer to lure Uche Ikpeazu to the Riverside Stadium, as per a report from Wales Online.

The 27-year-old is currently plying his trade on a temporary spell at Cardiff City after being deemed surplus to requirements by Chris Wilder, deciding to recruit Aaron Connolly and Folarin Balogun at temporary options up top during the winter window in Boro’s quest to get back to the Premier League.

With this top-tier return a clear ambition, it doesn’t seem as though Ikpeazu will be in Wilder’s long-term plans and with that, he may be available for a permanent transfer when the summer transfer window comes along.

This could open the door to current loan side Cardiff with Steve Morison’s men clearly needing striking reinforcements in the summer, as both the Middlesbrough man and Jordan Hugill only arrived on temporary spells in the Welsh capital in January.

In fairness to the Bluebirds, they may not need a major rebuild in the forward department considering they already have the likes of Isaak Davies, Mark Harris, James Collins, Max Watters and Isaac Vassell at their disposal.

However, at least one of those players is likely to leave and looking at that list, they are crying out for a bit of extra quality, and perhaps slightly more depth if they want to operate with two up top.

So ideally, they would bring in at least one permanent addition in that forward area to bolster their ranks for the longer term, something that will help to create stability.

Jordan Hugill has already expressed his wish to win his spot back in the Norwich City side, so a move for him may be off the cards at this stage and this leaves Ikpeazu at a potential main target during the next