By Gareth James

Karlan Grant has been backed to get his career back on track by keeping Cardiff City’s promotion surge rattling along.

Grant was once a £15m player at West Brom and playing regularly in the Premier League.

Suddenly, he fell out favour and was sent out on loan to Cardiff City back in the summer. The 26-year-old started just 18 league matches throughout the entirety of the 2022-23 season.

Karlan Grant says he has not heard from parent club West Bromwich Albion since joining Cardiff City on loan during the summer ⚽#BBCFootball

— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) November 3, 2023

Now, though, he is showing signs – according to his new boss – of returning to the form that persuaded the Baggies to splash big cash on him.

Erol Bulut has put his faith in the man who scored 19 goals to earn West Brom promotion to the Premier League in 2020 before falling out of favour at the Hawthorns.

As the season heads into the winter, Grant is one of the first names on the team sheet for Bulut and has helped to steer the Bluebirds into the play-off places.

All that is missing are a few more goals to back up a string of impressive performances.

https://twitter.com/CardiffCityFC/status/1720411011608449112?s=20

As the Bulut train heads to Stoke City on Saturday, looking to build on the 2-0 Severnside derby win over Bristol City last weekend, Grant is set for ‘lucky 13th’ start of the season.

“I definitely want to score more goals. That’s something I’ve been kicking myself about,” said the 26-year-old who has scored once in 15 outings at the Welsh capital club.

“I’m sure if I keep sticking at it they will come. We’re all chipping in and there is a real togetherness here at the club – the dressing room is full of good people.

“I came to this club because I wanted to play games. I didn’t want to just sit around and wait out my contract.

“There’s definitely more to come from me. Playing in a winning team helps, and we’ve been winning so that’s a positive.

“We feel like we are going to get three-points every time we play, that’s the main thing. I knew about the club and the sticky situation it had been in before I signed.

“But I also knew Cardiff was a big club and I knew it would get back to where it should be.”

One of Erol Bulut's most trusted lieutenants, Karlan Grant, on his time at Cardiff, how the squad measures up to others he's played with previously and his relationship with City fans.

Also asked Bulut about whether he'd want to make the deal permanent. https://t.co/9w6S41K5hj pic.twitter.com/JVueXvgD7V

— Glen Williams (@GlenWilliams12) November 3, 2023

So far, so good under new man Bulut. Even without the injured Aaron Ramsey he has been able to pick up regular wins and keep his side in the conversation at the top end of the table.

And he feels Grant has been crucial to his success so far.

“After every game, Karlan has the best results in running and high distance. Maybe he loses some goal chances, but this will come – he is working hard and the goals will come,” said Bulut.

“In the past he did a great job. If it’s £15 or £20 million, if someone is paying so much for you, then you must be worth it.

“I trust him because he is working hard. I see it in training and in every game – running and fighting. Some other players who are not playing, and some who are playing, should look at him and how much he is working.”

Stoke are currently 11th in the table but are on an impressive run of form with three successive victories over Sunderland, Leeds and Middlesbrough.

Injury lists for Saturday: ‘ CARDIFF CITY / STOKE CITY ‘ https://t.co/I4eyOAAISe pic.twitter.com/umEIqGofQ0

— Annis Abraham (@AnnisAbraham) November 3, 2023

Stoke manager Alex Neil said: “Momentum is more important in the Championship than any other league I’ve been involved in.

“When that momentum builds, when you believe in what you’re doing, when you’ve got guys who can score a goal out of nothing and you’re defensively solid as a unit, it can take you a long way.

“This next game for me is really important because we want to solidify being in the top half of the table.

“If you look at what we’ve had to contend with, we made more changes on and off the pitch than any other club in the league, we’ve mostly played teams in the top half of the table and we’ve had a lot of injuries.

“So if we can win on Saturday and solidify ourselves in the top half, we’ll be able to look at where we are and – albeit greedily thinking we should have won more games – be quite content with our first third of the season.”

https://twitter.com/RhydBowPhill/status/1719826314885058867?s=20