Southampton boss Russell Martin hailed Rubin Colwill as a “really talented player” following his stunning strike for Cardiff City against the Saints in the Carabao Cup.
Fresh from being omitted for the Wales squad for Nations League matches against Turkey and Montenegro in September, national team boss Craig Bellamy was in attendance to watch Colwill’s thumping hit at Cardiff City Stadium.
And Martin admitted he has long been an admirer of the 22-year-old having watched Colwill’s progress with Wales during his own time as Swansea City head coach.
“Their [Cardiff’s] first goal is a moment of brilliance from a player I’ve liked for a long time. He is a really talented player,” Martin said of Colwill.
“I think he needs to become a really good Championship player first [before thinking about the Premier League]. He hasn’t played enough games and he needs to get himself in the Cardiff team regularly.
“But I watched a lot of him for Wales under-21s when I was [at Swansea], I watched most of the Wales under-21s and first-team games. I used to bump into his dad all the time while travelling and we used to have a chat.”
Martin added: “I’m not his manager, so I don’t see him day to day, but he has to make sure he becomes the first name on the team sheet for Cardiff because he has moments like tonight and I’ve seen him have a few moments over the last couple of years that a lot of players just don’t possess. Really special.
“But he has to make sure he can use that special talent by being on the pitch more than he is now. I hope I haven’t spoken out of turn, but that would be my assessment.”
Given his obvious talents, Colwill has long been the subject of debate among Cardiff fans when it comes to how he has been utilised during his Bluebirds career to date.
However, the nine-cap Wales international has been unable to nail down a regular first team place with the Bluebirds since making his first team debut in 2021.
It comes after he was left out of the senior Wales squad by Bellamy – with Colwill featuring in Matty Jones’ under-21s side for their Euro qualifier against Iceland.
And following his sublime strike in the 5-3 defeat by Southampton, Bulut urged Colwill to replicate his impressive Saints performance over the course of a season.
“This is what we are expecting from Rubin,” said the Cardiff boss.
“He has that quality. He shows it in training sessions also. Sometimes he scores goals in training sessions that are unbelievable.
“So this is what I’m expecting as a manager from him. I know he can deliver it.
“Sometimes when he starts games, he doesn’t have that performance. Today when he came in he was better. But we need Rubin not only for 30 minutes, we need him for 90 minutes with that performance.”
