Finnish goalkeeper Hugo Keto has joined Cardiff City on trial. The Helsinki-born stopper played for the Bluebirds in their Professional Development League Cup match against Blackburn Rovers.
Manchester United’s teenage keeper Max Johnstone played for Cardiff in a 1-0 win against Southampton and a 1-0 defeat at Bristol City.
Keto, who celebrated his 20th birthday this month, stepped in for the clash with Blackburn, who emerged 3-0 winners.
Keto’s family moved to Wokingham when he was young, while they returned to Finland eight years later. He played for HJK Helsinki at youth level and was spotted by Premier Division scouts when he played for Finland in a 3-2 win against Russia. Keto’s boyhood favourites, Liverpool, invited Keto for a trial, while Arsenal moved in with a contract offer and signed him.
The 6ft 3ins keeper is tall and agile, a commanding figure in his penalty area and comfortable with the ball at his feet. He has represented Finland up to under-19 level.
His finest moment for the Gunners came in the 2015-16 FA Youth Cup quarter-final when he made a hat-trick of saves during the penalty shootout win against Coventry City.
The Bluebirds have had a Finnish goalkeeper before. Peter Enckelman played for the club during their 2008 FA Cup final defeat against Portsmouth.
There were two other trialists in the Cardiff development team against Blackburn. They were 17-year-old German-born striker Michael Gyasi, a former Chelsea schoolboy.
Chelsea paid £10,000 in compensation to Northampton Town when they signed Gyasi at the age of 11 and he has since played for Leicester City, Nuneaton and Bedford Town.
Powerful striker Jahvan Davidson-Miller, 19, released by Derby last season after scoring twice in eight matches for the Rams’ under-18 team is also with City on trial and played against Blackburn. Miller has been playing for Derbyshire club Belper Town.
Troy Magloire (6 mins), Lewis Mansell (10) and Joe Nuttall (54) scored Blackburn’s goals in their 3-0 win at Cardiff International Sports Campus, while Ogo Obi was lively and went close for Cardiff when his shot on the turn hit a post.
Keto made a brilliant reflect have from Mansell’s close-range strike after 51 minutes.
Cardiff City: Keto, Coxe, Abbruzzese, Young, Watson (Margetson), P McKay, Gyasi (Waite 46), Walters, Obi, M Harris, Jahvan Davidson-Miller Humphries 75). Subs not used: Burwood (gk).
Blackburn Rovers: Fisher, Doyle, Evans, Tomlinson, Magloire, Grayson, Travis, Hardcastle, Nuttall, Simmonds, Mansell. Subs: Carter, Albinson (gk), Buckley, Thompson.
Blackburn Rovers have signed young goalkeeper Oliver Byrne from Cardiff City on a one-and-a-half-year deal.
Byrne, aged 20 and from Manchester, has linked up with coach Damien Johnson’s table-topping Under-23s, where he will compete with Andy Fisher for the number one spot.
He spent the last two years at Cardiff, joining the Welsh side after completing his scholarship at boyhood club Manchester United.
“Blackburn is a massive club with great history,” Byrne told iFollow Rovers. “Facilities are top class. I played against Rovers as a kid at Manchester United and thought it was a good set-up, even back then.
“The move is a local one and I can live back at home with my family. It’s only an hour away.”
Byrne, who worked closely with first choice goalkeeper David de Gea during his time at United, has committed to Blackburn until the summer of 2019.
