Manager admits he made mistake over Cardiff City striker amid 'struggles' and squad omission

KV Kortrijk manager Freyr Alexandersson has taken some responsibility for Roko Simic's poor start to his loan at KV Kortrijk.

Cardiff City were crying out for a striker at the end of the transfer window back in the summer and managed to pull off the signing of RB Leipzig frontman Simic.

However, the Bluebirds opted to loan the 21-year-old out straight away to their sister club in Belgium, hoping to replicate the success Isaak Davies enjoyed during his time out there last term.

That has not transpired as yet, though. Simic has played just three games, coming off the bench in all three league matches, and has not kicked a ball in anger since September.

The Croatia youth international has been left on the bench in KVK's last three league matches and was even omitted from the squad all together for this week's Croky Cup win over Lokeren-Temse, leading some Cardiff fans to question what exactly has gone wrong.

Speaking about Simic's perceived struggles, Alexandersson said: “It’s partly my fault. I wanted to bring Roko too fast, when he was not ready for it.

"He still has to adapt a lot to this league and style of playing. In Austria, he was used to play for a dominating team, here he has to fight hard. He’s been struggling to adapt and find form, while I was wrong by putting him in the squad too fast.”

Cardiff have a number of players out on loan, but given the tumultuous nature of their first team this season including finding themselves bottom after eight games and sacking their manager, interim boss Omer Riza could perhaps be forgiven for not having kept too close an eye on Simic's progress. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

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On Simic and his contact with the players out on loan, Riza said: "We have monthly meetings regarding the loan players about how they are getting on, what they might need, what we are looking for potentially in January for them.

"The boys that are abroad I've not had any contact in terms of speaking to them. I haven't met Roko yet or spoken to him. So maybe that's something that can happen a little further down the line.

"The other players, I speak to them regularly, I drop them a text or call them. If they need me they can drop me a text. We've got a loans team, Pursey's (Darren Purse) involved in that, Paddy (Deboys), Gav (Chesterfield), the academy manager, Rammers (Tom Ramasut) are involved in that. We all sit and discuss in meetings.

"Credit to the club and the staff for how they manage and care about those players and what they're doing, what they're next step is. We have these conversations all the time. Healthy, honest conversations, open-door policy of saying what we feel and getting the beset end result.

"We are in constant contact with them and they are doing well, a lot of them. Raheem (Conte) is injured, he's hurt his back. Malachi (Fagan-Walcott) is doing well at York. Joel Colwill has done excellently at Cheltenham. It's great experiences for them."