So Kenwyne Jones looks set to leave Cardiff City in January, but does the Bluebirds’ star striker take his side’s Championship play-off hopes with him?
The loss of Jones, of course, is a blow in many ways. The departure of a man of that stature would be a loss for any side.
But Jones’ time at Cardiff has always seemed a strange one in many ways. Since his arrival from Stoke in January 2014, the 31-year-old may have won the minds of many Cardiff City supporters, but rarely their hearts.
The capital club has always been the same when it comes to its heroes. The Cardiff legends always seem blood and thunder types, the 110 per-centers, those with socks round their ankles and blood trickling from their noses. Jones' laid back style always seemed designed to garner heckles rather than praise.
Jones is hardly a finesse player, he remains a battering ram in many ways, but if his charms were sometimes hidden to the Cardiff-faithful, his statistics at the Welsh club could not lie.
He was Cardiff’s top scorer last season and he remains for many the best striker at the club, capable of terrorising any Championship defence.
WalesOnline columnist Nathan Blake has always maintained that those at the club have always failed to ‘love’ Jones enough and you have to say that stretches right across the fan base too.
But it wold be wrong to say Jones takes the Bluebirds’ play-off hopes with him. Let's be honest, Slade and his men have been doing a good enough job of derailing their promotion push of late with the Trinidad & Tobago striker still in their midst.
But what remains crucial now for Slade is that the right replacement is found for Jones in the January transfer window because, make no mistake, the man to step in for Jones is not currently in the Bluebirds squad.
Alex Revell may be back from his loan spell at Wigan, but despite opportunities, the striker has proved not effective enough to lead the Cardiff line at Championship level. Federicio Macheda and Idriss Saadi are other options but both have much to prove for different reasons.
The Bluebirds are going to need to bring someone in to partner Tony Watt, who now looks like he will be signed permanently and handed massive responsibility by Slade for the second half of the season. The hunt needs to be to find the man to complement Watt and to forge an excellent partnership.
It seems likely that search will take the Bluebirds to the Premier League with perhaps a loan signing until the end of the season.
Can the Bluebirds achieve it? Why not? They have done it before. Back in January 2013, then-manager Malky Mackay brought in Fraizer Campbell from Sunderland and his seven goals in the latter half of the campaign helped push the Bluebirds to the Championship title.
Jones (at his best) will be missed by Cardiff but what they need now is the right replacement in the January window. Finding that man might just be the biggest test Slade has faced since taking the job in the first place.