When Cardiff City sold Michael Chopra to Sunderland in 2007, they made a tidy profit.
After going through a trying time at his boyhood club, the former forward for Newcastle United signed for the Bluebirds in the summer of 2006.
When he was ten years old, he joined the Magpies. Chopra went on to play for Newcastle in the Premier League and the Champions League, although he left St James’ Park for a while due to a lack of playing time.
After being dissatisfied with the treatment he received from the club, the Englishman decided to transfer to Cardiff for £500,000. In an interview with The Guardian, he expressed his displeasure at the number of opportunities Shola Ameobi received before him, which ultimately resulted in his dismissal from the team.
It was a major coup for the Bluebirds to sign a teenage striker with Champions League experience, and it worked out better than the South Wales team could have ever imagined.
Chopra became a fan-favourite at Cardiff for his goalscoring
Chopra’s talent was immediately apparent to all when he joined Cardiff. In his first ten Championship games, he not only provided seven assists for his teammates, but he also scored six goals.
His scores capped off the Bluebirds’ incredible run of play.They lost just twice between August and November of 2006, and they were the league’s top team for ten weeks. Chopra’s play was astonishing; he teamed up up front with Strike Thompson right away.
Chopra concluded the season as the second-highest scorer in the division, despite the Bluebirds finishing in 13th place in the division due to his struggles in front of goal in the latter parts of the season. Chopra was a key member of the Cardiff team, scoring 22 goals and dishing out an additional 12 assists.
| Michael Chopra’s stats for Cardiff City 2006/07 – Transfermarkt | ||||
| Appearances | Starts | Minutes | Goals | Assists |
| 42 | 3686 | 22 | 12 | |
Chopra was a player unlike anyone seen at that level for Cardiff. He had fantastic pace and incredible quick feet in the box. His finishing was his greatest quality, crafting chances from nothing and finding the net with ease. Sadly for the Cardiff fans, he left the following season in a controversial transfer to one of his biggest rivals.
His controversial move to Sunderland made Cardiff a huge profit
To the dismay of Bluebirds supporters, Chopra left Ninian Park for Sunderland in the summer of 2007. Sunderland, the new Premier League team and eventual champions, expressed interest in signing him following his 22 goal total, which kept the Bluebirds atop the Championship for a considerable period of time.
After taking over a team that was facing relegation, Roy Keane helped the Black Cats achieve promotion to the Premier League by turning the team around. They had extra money to spend because of the TV rights revenue, and Chopra was one of the targeted players.
He moved to the Stadium of Light despite previously playing for Newcastle, as the Black Cats agreed to pay a £5 million transfer price for the striker.
Although losing a premier striker such as Chopra was a significant setback, Cardiff made a profit of £4.5 million in just one season. They brought in a lot of experienced players with the money, such Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink and Robbie Fowler, who helped them get to the FA Cup Final the following season.
His tenure at the Stadium of Light didn’t work out, despite the fact that his transfer to Sunderland proved to be a costly one for the team.
He was only with the team for eighteen months, making just twenty-two Premier League starts.With just eight goals for his new team, he was unable to get much playing time and returned on loan to Cardiff in January 2009 before joining on a permanent basis that summer.
But Chopra did score the game-winning goal on his club debut against Tottenham Hotspur, which he believes altered the supporters’ opinion of him.
In his brief tenure at Sunderland, he enjoyed considerable success despite the controversy surrounding the signing.
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