Roko Simic: I'm ready whenever the manager needs me – I want to show Cardiff City fans what I can do

The Bluebirds striker is yet to play for the club but is knocking on the door after some impressive displays for the under-21s

It wasn't so long ago that Roko Simic was being dubbed 'the Croatian Erling Haaland' and was being scouted by some of the world's top clubs. Now, the 21-year-old is battling for a place in Cardiff City's first team after making the move to the Welsh capital last summer.

"Yeah, that was when I was in Salzburg because he also played in Salzburg," Simic tells WalesOnline of the Haaland nickname he acquired. "We have a similar style of playing. He's a bit taller and a bit stronger than me!

"But Salzburg taught us to press really well and to chase the ball and to be calm in front of goal when you have the ball. That was what I was doing in Salzburg. It's always nice when somebody is comparing me with other other top, best strikers in the world."

In 2021, when he was banging in goals for Croatia's youth teams, he was linked with mega clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal, before he moved to the Red Bull family with Salzburg.

It's been quite the year for the striker, actually. Last January he was still being touted for fees as high as €10m, with teams like German outfit Wolfsburg and clubs in France's Ligue 1 registering their interest in him after he burst on to the scene and into the wider public conscience with RB Salzburg in the Champions League.

"I started really well last season, and it was my first season of senior football that I've been playing constantly, and Salzburg was in the Champions League," says the striker, who scored six goals for the Austrian club last term.

"As long as I got the trust from the coach, I always performed. I was the main guy for Croatia under-21s and for Salzburg and know I have qualities that can help any team.

"So if it's a tough situation — so in Salzburg, we were fighting for first place, now we are fighting to get Cardiff up the table — I always will put the club's goals first, you always need to stay positive."

So, why Cardiff? "I always wanted to move to the Championship," he says. "I think it's a very good league for players, especially for strikers, because there's a lot of games and it's a league that I think I can fit into.

"I like this style of play, it's always press on one side and then on the other side. It's a lot of intensity, and that's what I like.

"It was a weird situation, because I had one year left of my contract, and there were some clubs who wanted me, a lot of clubs wanted me to go on a loan, some clubs wanted me to come the year after as a free transfer. There were also some clubs who wanted me to buy me, and that was my intention, to go in the summer for a transfer fee, and Cardiff were the ones who showed the most that they most wanted me.

"So I felt really good before coming to Cardiff. Mr. Ken Choo and Patrick (Deboys) helped me to make this move. And the plan was to go to Kortrijk and then come back to Cardiff."

He was told that he would sign for Cardiff, for an initial £1.7m which will include add-ons if the criteria is met, and then be sent out to sister club KV Kortrijk, where he would be the club's main No.9 this season, ready to return to Wales this summer in order to be the main man up front next term. But the Belgian loan just didn't work out. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

A lack of game-time, change of manager and, crucially, a calf injury really hindered his time in the Pro League and he had to return to Cardiff with just four games under his belt.

"It was a new city. A new country, new league. I needed time to adapt," he says. "And then after a few weeks, I've got this injury in both of my calves. It was a strange injury, because after like 20, 30 minutes on the pitch, I felt like I had cramps.

"So let's say from September to December in Kortrijk, I was injured. If I didn't have this injury, nobody knows how it would have gone. But it was just this weird injury, you know, and it put me back. It put me off the pitch.

"At the end of December, Mr. Ken Choo and Patrick came to Kortrijk, and with their help, they brought me back to Cardiff, because in Kortrijk, nobody could give me a diagnosis. I came to Cardiff, and the medical staff from Cardiff helped me a lot. My injury was gone after one month, so I started to train normally and properly."

Simic says he is now fully fit and ready to contribute in earnest. He trained predominantly with the under-21s before the international break and has struck a rich vein of form for the young Bluebirds, scoring five times in seven matches. He now trains with the first team.

Cardiff are currently in a real mess, stuck in the throes of a battle to avoid relegation with just six games of the season left to play. Manager Omer Riza, meanwhile, has thrown down the gauntlet to the young striker. He said this week that Simic is in his thoughts, but he has to get ahead of top-scorer Callum Robinson and January signing Yousef Salech, who has hit the ground running since his arrival, if he is to play before this season runs its course.

Simic insists he is ready whenever he is called upon.

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"When I came here, I talked with him. He gave me a warm welcome," Salech says of Riza. "I was injured, so he gave me time to recover and to be back on the pitch. When I did that successfully, with the help of the medical staff, it was a plan until the international break to be with the under-21s, to gain fitness, to get some minutes and to score some goals.

"I've been doing that. I'm a professional, I'm doing my job, and the manager is doing his job. It's a really difficult situation, because Cardiff is in the relegation zone currently. But I'm ready, I know I can help the team. I'm fit and if the coach needs me in a week, or in four weeks, I will help the team whenever.

"Both of them [Salech and Robinson] have had really good seasons, and I see them more as friends. In this tough situation, I want the best for Cardiff – all of us are giving our best. I'm waiting for my opportunity to show myself because I've been playing in the Champions League, and when the moments were difficult, I proved myself.

"I feel positive, and I think I can show my qualities when I get the chance. I know the Championship is really good. But I've played in the Champions League, good games, and I feel if I have played well in the Champions League I can also play here and help the team.

"If I have trust from the coach, I know I can show myself like I did in the Champions League. With respect to the Championship, the Champions League is a level above!"

Last season, Simic earned plaudits for his performances in the Champions League against established European clubs like Real Sociedad, Inter Milan and Benfica, against whom he scored and was named man of the match.

The forward describes himself as a "fox in the box" and a hard worker who likes to press. "I'm always waiting for the ball," he says. "I'm always in the right place at the right moment."

At the moment, Cardiff could use all the help they can get. The 0-0 draw away to QPR on Saturday means there are just six games left and Cardiff are in the relegation zone - they are in desperate need of something to spark a run of wins before time runs.

Some might think Simic is being overexposed considering he's not yet played for the first team, but supporters are rightly curious about his situation, given the financial outlay and his playing experience at such a young age.

At 21, though, time is very much on his side. He is one of a number of promising young players, which includes Cian Ashford, Isaak Davies, Will Fish, Alex Robertson, Joel Bagan, Rubin and Joel Colwill, Salech and Ollie Tanner which has supporters believing — perhaps hoping — that the future is brighter and far less bleak than the recent past has been.

"There are really good players," Simic says of his contemporaries. "I have played for a few clubs and I know, to compare the intensity, and as I come here in Cardiff, I can see that it's a really, really good team, and that there's a lot of quality players.

"I'm just happy. I'm here, really happy and I hope for the best for Cardiff. I hope this year, the goal is to stay the Championship, and next year, because we have good players, I think our goal must be very high.

"I have a real desire to help the team, and I'm always here, and I'm just positive because Cardiff comes first.

"I like the fans a lot. I've got a lot of messages from them, and when I'm walking through the city, there's always somebody stopping me and showing the Bluebirds sign [ayatollah]. So I show it back to them! But hopefully, soon, it will be on the on the pitch that I show them."