Cardiff need a goalscorer to reach the next level
Stoke City and Cardiff City must capitalise on MK Dons play-off heartbreak..
Turkish manager Erol Bulut has improved Cardiff City this term. They finished in 12th place, nine places higher than last season, but still 11 points away from the play-offs.
Adding a goalscorer such as Dean could seriously improve the Welsh side’s chances of making the play-offs next season. This season, their joint-top goalscorers included defender Perry Ng alongside Karlan Grant with six each in the league.
Cardiff were joint bottom of the division, alongside relegated Rotherham United and the aforementioned Stoke, for goals by their highest scorer. Bulut must prioritise a number nine in the summer transfer window and MK Dons’ 2023/24 top-scorer could be his man.
Dean could settle Schumacher’s selection issues at Stoke
Steven Schumacher’s Stoke City are in desperate need of a goalscorer in the summer. The Potters’ league top goalscorer in the 2023/24 season was André Vidigal, who managed only six goals, over four times less than Championship top goalscorer Sammie Szmodics.
The club have tried a whopping 11 different players in the striker position this season in the league, according to data from Who Scored. Moroccan international Ryan Mmaee has been preferred up top, but he managed just three goals all season.
Signing Dean could prove to be a stroke of genius by Schumacher if the forward can nail down the number nine spot and help last season’s joint-fourth-lowest scorers to distance themselves from the relegation zone in the 2024/25 Championship season. He’s young enough to develop and obviously heading into next year with enough confidence to hit the ground running after an excellent campaign.
Stoke City and Cardiff City must capitalise on MK Dons play-off heartbreak
Young striker Max Dean excels for MK Dons, reaching 20 goal contributions, despite team’s play-off heartbreak.
Dean’s impressive performance attracts interest from clubs in higher divisions.
Stoke City and Cardiff City could benefit from signing Dean to improve their goalscoring abilities.
Young MK Dons striker Max Dean fired his team to the EFL League Two play-offs with over 20 goal contributions in the regular season, but the Dons play-off heartbreak could make him available to several clubs higher up in the Football League.
MK Dons were looking to bounce straight back to League One following their relegation to League Two ahead of their 2024/25 campaign, but a convincing two-legged play-off defeat to Crawley Town condemned them to consecutive seasons in the fourth tier for the first time in 17 years.
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