Appointed Cardiff City manager in July after his most recent spell at Gaziantep, Erol Bulut has enjoyed a relatively successful start with the Bluebirds.
They currently sit 11th in the Championship, but are only three points off Hull City in sixth, who hold the first playoff spot.
This means Cardiff still have a chance of getting a chance at promotion to the Premier League, which is Bulut’s ultimate aim, as he explained in a lengthy interview with AA, relayed by NTV Spor.
Only signing a one-year contract at first, the Turkish manager hopes to ‘get the team into the play-offs’ and end up with something to celebrate at the end of it all.
What happens beyond that remains to be seen seen, but he firmly believes he has the ability to get the team there, as long as the quality in the Cardiff squad is there.
That’s why January could be very important for the Bluebirds, which is why the manager was asked if he was considering bringing in at least one player from Turkey.
He replied: “Of course we would like to buy Turkish players. There are quality players, but it’s difficult to recruit local players from Turkey. Nobody wants to let their local players go. Could it happen in the next window? Maybe. It is also financially difficult to buy a player who is currently playing at the level we want.”
As for the rumours that were sending Salih Uçan to Cardiff, Bulut immediately dismissed those.
He made it clear there was ‘no such agenda’, and he was only in contact with the player because he is someone he has managed in the past and has a good relationship with.
He added: “We do not have the budget to buy Salih. Even if he is free, we don’t have the budget to pay him. Cardiff City has no chance to pay the figures he received at Besiktas. If we were in the Premier League, then it would be different. We could buy footballers at a different level.”
