Former Tottenham Hotspur youngster Kion Etete is finally making his mark at Cardiff City while ending a four-month Championship goal drought in midweek.
Given the manner in which Etete found the back of the net for the first time in 2023, you would never have guessed that the 21-year-old travelled to Vicarage Road on the back of 14 goalless games in all competitions.
Cancelling out Ismaila Sarr’s early opener on the half-hour, Etete set relegation-threatened Cardiff on their way to a potentially season-saving 3-1 away win; dancing his way into space before slotting cooly past Daniel Bachmann.
Etete’s fine finish may have been overshadowed by a glorious overhead kick from strike partner Sory Kaba. But, as Cardiff put a two-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone with just three games remaining, the 21-year-old signed in a £500,000 deal from Tottenham Hotspur last summer could hardly have rediscovered his penalty-area instincts at a better moment in time.
Former Tottenham striker Kion Etete scores huge Cardiff City goal
“That was the best performance under me,” Cardiff manager Sabri Lamouchi tells Wales Online.
“(Etete) was injured for a couple of weeks. He missed some games. But that is the best performance from Kion (too).”
The 6ft 6ins frontman did not make a single first-team appearance during three years at Tottenham; spending time out on loan at Northampton Town and Cheltenham.
“Even when he wasn’t scoring, you could still see that he was causing a lot of problems for defenders,” former Cobblers team-mate Sam Hoskins told the Northampton Chronicle back in October 2021.
“He does so much work for us at the top of the pitch. He always put 110 per cent into the game for the team.
“I don’t want to big him up too much. But for his age he’s obviously very good and he’s got a big future ahead of him.”
