Cardiff City turn down bids for Peter Whittingham from Fulham

By Peter ShuttleworthBBC Sport Wales

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments47

Peter Whittingham

Cardiff City have insisted they will not sell their "best players" after rejecting two bids from Premier League side Fulham for Peter Whittingham.

The 27-year-old midfielder, whose contract runs until 2014, has also been linked with a move to Fulham's top-flight rivals West Bromwich Albion.

The ex-England Under-21 international, who pledged his future to the Welsh Club played every minute last season.

"We're looking to strengthen," said chief executive Alan Whiteley.

"We are certainly not looking to sell our best players.

"We have had two offers from the same club and rejected them both. They do not come up to our aspirations nor do we have any desire to sell Peter.

"As far as we're concerned Peter is going nowhere and will be going nowhere."

The highly rated Whittingham, who joined Cardiff for £250,000 from Aston Villa in January 2007, was the subject of failed bids from Championship clubs Nottingham Forest and Burnley in 2010 and West Ham in 2011.

Cardiff lost in the play-offs for the third year in a row last season and Whittingham helped them reach the Carling Cup final at Wembley, which they lost to Liverpool on penalties.

Whittingham scored 13 goals in 55 games and made the Championship team of the year for the second season in three years.

Cardiff manager Malky Mackay insists Whittingham is central to his plans for promotion to the Premier League, starting in their Championship opener against Huddersfield Town on Friday, 17 August.

"He is a fundamental part of the team and Malky has made no secret of the fact we want to build a team around him," added Whiteley.

"Unless Peter himself was desperate to go, it will take a very interesting offer to change our minds but this comes nowhere near it.

"They are trying to test our resolve but they are not getting very far at the moment."

Whittingham, Cardiff's 25-goal top-scorer in 2010, has scored more than 10 goals in each of the last three seasons and 64 goals in 256 appearances for the club.

Fulham boss Martin Jol is looking for a creative midfielder following the departure of captain and former England international Danny Murphy to Blackburn Rovers.

Cardiff, whose Malaysian owners have pledged an overall £100m investment as the club changes its shirt colour from blue to red, have signed goalkeeper Joe Lewis and midfielder Jordon Mutch this summer.

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  • Agee with the sensible posts that whatever he is worth 3 m ain't enough. Its right that a player is only worth what someone will offer and accept. Is carol worth 35m? No, but thats what was paid as newcastle didn't have to sell and liverpool really wanted their man.

    Also all this anti england and wales stuff is really boring...

  • JoshG - Whitts is worth whatever a club will offer and we will accept. Any other figures are just speculation amongst us fans....
    He IS integral to our play and so to us is worth far more than most would be willing to offer I suspect.

  • To JoshG (33.)
    £6mil is not a lot to a Premiership club that has been there for several years.

    We sold Chopra to Sunderland for 5mil a few years ago and turned down 6mil for Ledley from Stoke (big mistake with hindsight). Roger Johnson also went for 5mil to Birmingham.

    Whittingham is far more central to our team than the above players. He is also under contract and doesn't want to leave. :-)

  • Looks like you are after Reo-Coker anyhow... good luck with that, much better class of player I'm sure!!??

  • Regarding fees, a player is only worth what someone is willing to offer/acccept. To you he's worth a small fee, to us he's worth more. We don't need to sell, the player is happy so it will take a much larger offer for the club to even consider it. Good luck for your mid-table adventure, that afterall is the measure of success for all but a few in the top flight these days!

  • 15. Oafc-olly, i am guessing your user stands for oldham? If so, before criticising Cardiff for having non Welsh players i suggest you contact your club and ask when the 20 non English players in your squad last year are being released... #glasshouses

  • He's always been happy and played well for the club and it's developing well under Mackay. There's a good chance Cardiff will be in the premiership soon anyway so he'd be better off staying where he''s be the main man and is at his best.

  • I find it funny that we should get players of our own nationality when the prem league has mostly forein players and aurgably the greatest players to grace the english leagues are welsh and one name RYAN GIGGS case rested!

  • @21 "you idolised a player as bad as andy johnson"

    Maybe that's why we let him go on a free, he's that good.

  • Whitts is worth way more than £3million. Anyone who has watched Cardiff for the past 5 years knows that. He rarely, if ever gets injured. He covers more ground than any other player in the team and his end product is phenomenal. Just look at how many goals and assists he has had over the years. It would cost us at least £6milion to replace him and he has 2 years on his contract. So laters... ...

  • Definitely should stay, at least give it another season to see if this big investment pans out. He knows he's the heart of midfield.. Maybe even the team? = )

  • Too right benni, looking strong in lots of departments now especially if we get kim. Should be an interesting season ahead on the pitch as well as off it!

  • Whitts is going nowhere guys.. I'm confident of that, I think Malky is determined to hang on to him and the midfield next season is already looking much stronger. If we can get some quick wingers to go with it. It think we will take some stopping in that department. So.. does this mean 606 is kind of back? AWESOME!

  • Josh you may be right. But, Ramsey wasnt worth 5m when we sold him, he was worth double that, however we were cash strapped at the time. Now we ain't.

    What I will say is that whitts has constantly scored double figures from midfield year after year which shows his class. He has also been instrumental in our cup and play off runs. Part of a team which took liverpool to pens which is no mean feat.

  • Well its the same old dribble that comes out of every Cardiff fan 'we WILL get promoted this season'. Every chance you have had to get into the Premier League you have bottled it EVERY time.

    Anyway on the Whittingham article he is technically a good player but he is not worth £6million.............Where do they get these numbers from?!

  • Don't think Whitts will be interested in a move to Fulham, heard he's not the biggest Michael Jackson fan...

  • jig1927 - mighty blue birds lol mighty red burdz don't you mean ;o)

  • shmadwon you couldn't have been watching him that well as you would know that his wife is welsh ( so she wears the boots ) and we are not denying him a move he doesn't want to go. why would he wan't to go to a club with no ambitions like fulham when he has played in F.A cup finals and Carling cup finals for the mighty bluebirds.

  • I cannot see him as a Premier League player, Villa got rid of him for a reason and as for you valuations of £6 million never in a million years when you can buy players abroad for less than £3 million with Champions League experience . I find the Bluebird fans passion for their club fantastic but you are not Premier League yet get there this year and you will say the same Dragons

  • Fair enough, as i Fulham fan i believe we should be aiming for a higher calibre of player than Whittingham anyway. I'm not sure if he could cut it at Premier League level and looks like the kind of signing I'd expect from qpr.

    That said, a player in the Murphy mould is definately what we need to be on the lookout for. With our dutch connections, it wouldn't surprise me if he hailed from there.

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