Town boss Paul Jewell has confirmed that the Blues paid only £1 million for striker Michael Chopra during the close season. After the former Cardiff man recently netted his third and fourth goals of the campaign against Brighton various national newspapers claimed Town had spent as much as £3 million on the 27-year-old, while previous reports had indicated that the ex-Newcastle and Sunderland man had cost a fee of £1.5 million.
Jewell said: "I’ve seen what prices have been mentioned, but we only paid £1 million for him.
"I think Cardiff wanted to change things around a bit, maybe Chops wanted a fresh challenge. All I know is that we got a terrific deal because I think he’s the best striker in the division.”
The Blues boss says he hopes the brace against the Seagulls is a start of a rich vein of form: Everyone knows what a good player he is, but he is a streaky player - he gets his goals in fits and starts.
"He’s very bright, he’s very clever and he never stops working for the team. He’s one of our major players and hopefully he can go on a goalscoring run now.”
Jewell says the former Bluebird is unlikely to be fazed by facing his old side on Saturday: "Sometimes you can try too hard against your former club, but I think Chops is experienced enough to know that he did a lot for Cardiff.
"I don’t think there is any acrimony on his part and I’m not aware of any from Cardiff towards him either. Sometimes people just move on.”
Chopra’s former Bluebirds team-mate Darcy Blake hopes there’ll be no boos for the striker from his old supporters: "Hopefully he’ll get a good reception from the Cardiff fans. He deserves it because he did well for the club.
"You are always going to get one or two who have a go, but Chops was good for Cardiff. He went to Sunderland and came back, so I think he’s got a good respect for the club.
"He likes Cardiff, but I think he thought it was time for him to move on and he’s fitted in well at Ipswich and has got goals.”
Blake says Cardiff know what to expect from their old boy: "I saw the two goals he scored the other day against Brighton and they allowed him to cut inside and he just curled them in.
"We know him. We know his strengths. If you let him cut inside the first thing on his mind is to shoot. He’s a goalscorer and you can’t afford to give him half a chance or he will finish it.
"It will be interesting, but our team is OK right now. The work ethic is just so great in the side.”