What is better than one Murphy? Two.
Just think about it; interchangeable Murphys. One on each wing. Imagine the telepathy. Seriously though and lazy stereotypes aside, Cardiff need a right winger to replace Kadeem Harris and challenge Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who hibernates in the winter like a bear. Who better than Jacob Murphy?
Cardiff sometimes seem to struggle to attract exciting players, but they have major leverage in this instance. Not only would they fill a void, they would also be reuniting a family, like Cilla Black used to (ask your parents, or use Davina McCall as a frame of reference instead).
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Born minutes apart and signed for eight-figure sums, reported as only £100,000 apart, Josh and Jacob exude symmetry in the creepy way that only twins can. You can’t knock a bit of symmetry on the pitch though. Most importantly though, both are very good players.
It hasn’t really happened for Jacob at Newcastle, the club he grew up supporting. Coming off a season where he scored 10 goals and provided six assists for Norwich, he only started 16 league games for Rafa Benitez in the couple of years since.
Josh scored 11 (see, spooky!) in his last season at Norwich, with a further three (less spooky) assists. His return of three goals and two assists from 22 starts last year was rather disappointing if truth be told, but he showed flashes of exceptional talent. Especially early on in the season.
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Josh was far too inconsistent last term and Cardiff were unable to compensate. Chances are that when he was on song, so too were Cardiff, but that proved to be about once a month and evidently not often enough. With two Murphys, chances are that either or both will be on song.
As you would expect, both share similar strengths and weaknesses, although Jacob has the reputation of being the better finisher, while Josh is more renowned for his set piece delivery.
In terms of Cardiff’s chances of landing Jacob, he still has a couple of years remaining on his Newcastle deal, but the club is in the midst of a period of flux since Benitez departed. There seems to be a bit of a fire sale going on up there and present and maybe now is the time to capitalise.
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Having spent the second half of last season on loan at West Brom (nine starts, two goals and one assist, in case you were wondering stats fans), Jacob is evidently not against dropping down a level in order to play more and of course, he shares the same representation as Josh too.
So let’s reunite those Murphy boys! How cute would that be, and more importantly, it would be thrilling to watch and make Cardiff a far more potent attacking force. Now that’s settled, get me Rafael and Fabio on the line.