Cardiff City struck gold with combined £3.35m expense on Reading FC deal and Peter Whittingham | OneFootball

Cardiff City struck gold with the signings of two of the club's most iconic players in modern times

Cardiff City haven't always got it right in the transfer market over the years, which they will need no reminding of.

The Bluebirds have burned through some serious cash and controversial owner Vincent Tan has lost eye-watering sums on transfer blunders which simply never paid off, and they are still dealing with those consequences to this day.

Naturally, though, there are some exceptions to the rule. Much is made of Cardiff's high-profile transfer errors, so it can be easy to forget the club have also struck gold on a number of occasions.

The signings of Sean Morrison and Peter Whittingham, which did come in very different periods, simply have to be looked at as two of Cardiff's finest pieces of business in modern times.

Cardiff sourced great value with £3m, Sean Morrison signing

A particular point in time where Cardiff seemed particularly wasteful from a transfer perspective was between 2013 and 2015, when they were in the Premier League for a single season before bringing in a host of big-name, big-money signings in an unsuccessful bid to return to the big time.

Sean Morrison didn't exactly join for an insignificant sum at the time either, but Cardiff eventually sourced fine value for money. The central defender was recruited from then-Championship rivals Reading in the summer of 2014, months after Cardiff had been relegated from the top-flight.

According to reports, Cardiff shelled out £3 million for Morrison's services in what was widely deemed as yet another sizable gamble. They saw good on this one, though.

Morrison took some time to get going in a City shirt but would go on to establish himself as the cornerstone of a steely and solid backline, which was arguably the driving force in their return to the Premier League under Neil Warnock some four years later.

The defender was captain of the side by then, and played a starring role as Cardiff gained promotion by scoring seven goals - including a dramatic brace at Hull City in the penultimate game of the campaign - while striking an imperious partnership with the late, great Sol Bamba.

Morrison went on to spend three-and-a-half further seasons in south Wales before seeing his illustrious stay brought to an abrupt, injury-enforced end.

But that has not tainted his legacy one bit - Morrison remains a modern-day legend at Cardiff and with good reason, racking up just shy of 300 appearances.

£3 million returned Cardiff an iconic defensive stalwart who committed eight years of service, led promotion to the Premier League and left as one of the club's very best defenders in the 21st century.

That's not bad going.

Cardiff City struck gold with bargain £350,000, Peter Whittingham transfer agreement

As great as Morrison was, it's hard to see where Cardiff have ever gained better value for money than the signing of Whittingham, who joined for a scarcely-believable fee of just £350,000 from Aston Villa in 2007.

Whittingham's legacy lives long in the memory, and he is widely regarded as Cardiff's greatest ever player. The midfield maestro ranks eighth in the club's all-time appearances charts with 457 under his belt across a ten-year stay, which yielded 96 goals and 92 assists.

A bonafide set-piece specialist, few players in the country could hit a dead ball with better precision than Whittingham in his pomp, and he played a role in two runs to major cup finals at Wembley inside three years, along with Cardiff's first-ever promotion to the Premier League in 2013.

Whittingham was adored just as much for his ability as he was for his humble, unassuming nature away from the field, which contributed towards the legendary status he holds.

His time with Cardiff came to an end in 2017 and he spent one season with Blackburn Rovers before hanging up his boots.