The contract situation of every Cardiff City player as…

The contract situation of every Cardiff City player as 10 stars enter their final year

Five players will officially leave Cardiff City this week upon the expiry of their contracts.

It was no surprise to learn Joe Day would leave, and the same can be said - to an extent - for Junior Hoilett, following his freezing out in the final months of the season.

It was a little more jarring to learn Sol Bamba and Joe Bennett would leave, given their importance to the club in recent seasons, but the Bluebirds are cutting their cloth accordingly in these cash-strapped times and difficult decisions had to be taken.

Jonny Williams was surprised himself that he was let go, with all signs seemingly pointing to an extension on his short-term deal. No such clause was triggered, though.

As ever, contract negotiations tend to rumble on throughout the course of the season. We have seen Cardiff can be ruthless, having let some established players leave this summer, and tough decisions will have to be made.

Cardiff have seemingly taken this opportunity to release some potentially bigger earners in the squad and add three free agents, so far, all of whom are expected to be on relatively low salaries in comparison to the likes of Bamba, Bennett and Hoilett.

Next summer sees more big earners' contracts expire.

The likes of captain Sean Morrison, goalkeeper Alex Smithies, centre back Aden Flint and winger Josh Murphy will all see their deals run out in June 2022.

So, too, will midfield quartet Will Vaulks, Joe Ralls, Marlon Pack and Lee Tomlin.

There are some big names in there and it is unlikely all of them will be kept on past next summer. It rears the question of whether the club will explore the option of cashing in on some of them now while they still hold some transfer value or risk letting them leave for nothing next term.

These are all discussions which will doubtless be taking place behind the scenes.

With a young centre back in Mark McGuinness having been added and another central midfielder in Ryan Wintle having arrived, it is perhaps a nod to shrewd future planning, with two centre backs and three established midfielders seeing their contracts expire next term.

The contract of Ciaron Brown, another centre back, was up this month but the club included him in their retained list, however an official announcement as to the length of the extension was never made clear.

As things stand, though, this is the contract situation of every Cardiff City player.