The player who was once 'the most valuable striker in England' now facing Cardiff City crunch

Since Neil Warnock left Cardiff City, the club have only spent more on Kieffer Moore than Max Watters. It highlights just how much Cardiff invested in the promising youngster when he joined from Crawley Town 14 months ago.

At that time, Crawley chief Erdem Konyar said Watters was the "most valuable striker in England" during a spell which would see him net 16 goals in 19 games for the League Two outfit before earning a move to the Welsh capital.

“I got a call from a club from a higher league last week and they asked how much. I said £1mllion. He laughed me off. He’s got a hat-trick since then. If he rings me today I will say £2m," Konyar said the month before Watters' Bluebirds move.

“For me he’s the most valuable striker in England. The fact he is 21 years old and he won’t matter for the squad registration and the salary cap makes him more valuable. But there is strong interest and from abroad as well. He is a fantastic kid and full credit to the gaffer [John Yems] for spotting him."

Cardiff fought off a number of rivals to secure the young forward's signature, not least their arch enemies down the road, Swansea City. It is thought they got him for a fee which could reach £1m if certain add-on criteria are met.

The Bluebirds needed firepower at the time, Moore needed help and they thought they had snapped up one of the hottest prospects in the country. But he played just one game under his new manager, Neil Harris, before the axe was wielded and the gaffer was gone. While the less said about his time under Mick McCarthy, the better.

McCarthy opted to convert Sheyi Ojo and Josh Murphy into strikers to partner Moore rather than play Watters and Cardiff's shiny new signing soon saw his glow fade while perching on the