Bulut mulls over Kanga Bluebirds bow

New signing Wilfried Kanga could pull on a Cardiff City shirt for the first time in Saturday’s final pre-season friendly at Bristol Rovers (15:00 BST).

Wales captain Aaron Ramsey is also expected to feature along with first-team mainstays Perry Ng, Dimitrios Goutas and Manolis Siopis.

Centre-forward Kanga joined Cardiff on a season-long loan from Hertha BSC on Tuesday and Bluebirds boss Erol Bulut must mull over whether to give him a run-out.

“Maybe the last 20 mins we will try to use him,” Bulut said.

“He is behind [in terms of fitness]. He did not train with the team. He was doing individual training with the ball he did not do many things. We may keep him out we may not.”

Bulut is now happy with his attacking resources, not least because of the pre-season form of Callum Robinson, who has netted six goals.

But Ivory Coast international Kanga, who is pacy and stands at 6ft 2in, very much fits the profile of what Cardiff have been seeking to add to their forward line.

Bulut said: “Last season he played in the Belgian league with Standard Liege and scored 13 goals. He can score goals, he showed that.

“I expect goals from him, he was hard-working last season and I hope he can deliver these things this season for Cardiff City and he will be positive for the team.”

Bulut is aware that his new recruits will take time to get up to speed with those Cardiff players who have had a full pre-season with the club.

But with a number of senior players having sat out Wednesday’s 2-1 friendly win over Reading at the Cardiff City Stadium, the Bluebirds boss hopes to field a more experienced line-up against Rovers at the Memorial Ground.

The likes of Ramsey had a tough morning training session on Wednesday and Bulut explained the build-up to the new season has been about monitored action for players.

Defender Calum Chambers played 45 minutes against Reading, while fellow new recruit Chris Willock played half an hour in the second half.

Bulut said: “We try to give players as many minutes as possible, especially for the young and new players because some of them came late and are not fit for 90 minutes.

“We also have to be careful of injuries. That is why we try to use the players after talks with our medical staff – we don’t want to push too much the new players.

“I think in two or three weeks they will be at the top level and can continue for 90 minutes.”

Dutch winger Anwar El Ghazi, who joined in midweek, will not feature against Rovers and Bulut has made it clear the former Aston Villa player will take time to get up to speed in the new season.

Bulut said: “He has trained. We had a talk about individual training so I think he will need a minimum a month to be in a shape that he can perform for us.”