Neil Harris expected big things when Cardiff City beat Swansea, Watford and West Brom to "natural finisher" - He scored one league goal | OneFootball

Neil Harris dubbed Max Watters a "natural finisher" when he joined Cardiff, but his time in South Wales was hugely disappointing.

Cardiff City would have been hugely excited when they secured the signing of young striker Max Watters from Crawley Town back in January 2021.

The Bluebirds fought off competition from Watford, West Brom and their bitter rivals Swansea City for the then-21-year-old, who had netted 16 times in just 19 games in all competitions at the start of the 2020/21 campaign.

However, his time in South Wales simply never worked out, and he departed the club in the summer of 2023, having scored just one league goal.

Cardiff must surely wonder what could have been from Watters, who turned out to be a poor signing, despite initial hopes for him being very high.

Neil Harris dubbed Watters a “natural finisher” after completing Cardiff City signing

Watters was arguably one of the hottest properties in the entire Football League when he began the season in electric form back in 2020/21.

Watters had only joined Crawley earlier that year, having been released by Doncaster, but it didn’t take him long to find his feet in Sussex. By the time the January transfer window had rolled around, he was already well on his way to the 20-goal mark in all competitions.

Just days before his Cardiff move, the frontman had come off the bench as John Yems’ side knocked Leeds United out of the FA Cup, a game which famously saw TV personality Mark Wright make his professional debut.

Crawley’s technical director, Erdem Konyar, boldly claimed the Red Devils would only accept a seven-figure fee for the youngster, a staggering amount of money for League Two level.

Konyar also referred to Watters as “the most valuable striker in England,” prior to his move.

Despite the fact that Swansea were the first side to join the chase for the striker, it was their rivals Cardiff who ultimately secured his services.

The Bluebirds were 15th in the Championship at the time, but had scored just 29 times from 22 league games, meaning Watters was a particularly important signing for them.

Boss Neil Harris heaped praise on his new acquisition, referring to Watters as a “natural finisher.”

Harris, who had netted over 150 times during his own career, told Wales Online: “He knows where the goal is, that’s for sure! You can see why he has scored goals this year. He is a natural finisher.

“But I’ve only seen him for two quite short days on the training pitch, so I need to see more of him to really get a feel for him. But I like his character and the way he handles himself. First impressions are very good.”

Watters’ Cardiff spell never worked out

Despite the early optimism when he made the switch to Cardiff, Watters never really adapted to the second tier.

He was signed in the hope that he would provide the goals to fire the Bluebirds up into the top half of the table, but that simply never materialised.

Watters had next to no impact at the Cardiff City Stadium, making just three league appearances in the second half of that season, and failing to find the net.

He was loaned out to MK Dons in League One ahead of the 2021/22, where he appeared to find his goalscoring touch again. Five goals in 11 games prompted Cardiff to recall him, but he went on to score just once in eight Championship outings that season.

After 11 goalless appearances in the 2022/23 season, he was loaned out to the third tier, this time to Barnsley, who ultimately bought him in July 2023.

Watters’ time at Oakwell has been mixed so far. The forward has shown flashes of the ability that saw him catch the eye as a youngster with Crawley, but has struggled for goals on a regular basis across his three seasons with the Tykes.

Now 26, Watters must surely regret the way his career has played out so far, when you consider the things that were being said about him during his stint at Crawley.

From Cardiff’s point of view, he proved to be a fairly expensive mistake and a signing which didn’t play out anywhere near as well as they would have expected.