Bayern target Lawlor 'should stay at Cardiff to play'

Centre-back Dylan Lawlor should stay with Cardiff City to keep playing regularly, according to his head coach Brian Barry-Murphy.

The highly rated 19-year-old Wales international has caught the eye of numerous Premier League clubs, while German giants Bayern Munich are also reportedly interested.

Having made only two senior appearances for Cardiff last season, this has been a brilliant breakthrough campaign for Lawlor.

He has made 22 appearances in all competitions for the League One leaders, while making his debut for Wales and impressing in his first three international games.

If the interest in Lawlor leads to offers from clubs at a higher level, Barry-Murphy hopes he will resist those and continue his development at Cardiff.

"He loves playing for the club. I think the biggest thing that we can give him is an opportunity to play first-team football," said the former Manchester City Under-21s coach.

"Some of these young players go to clubs like you're referencing and obviously go on different journeys. That means they don't play for the first team for a prolonged period.

"So the biggest thing we can give him is working every single day on the things that he needs to improve the most - and he gets a chance to play alongside Calum Chambers, Will Fish, Gabriel Osho, all those guys.

"That's brilliant for him in the time of his career when it's so important to play."

Lawlor signed a new three-year contract in August, keeping him at Cardiff until the summer of 2028.

As well as demonstrating how highly the club rate their young centre-back, the extended deal means the club will be able to command a bigger transfer fee when the bids inevitably come in.

"His talent is going to be a very valuable asset, so I think from a business point of view it makes sense to secure him on as long a contract as possible," said Barry-Murphy.

Lawlor's skills – both in defence and attack – were on display on Friday when Cardiff beat Exeter City 1-0 to stay three points clear at the top of League One.

As well as defending stoutly to help the Bluebirds keep another clean sheet, Lawlor played a beautiful long ball for Alex Robertson to score the game's only goal.

"The skill level from Dylan to find the pass to Alex was perfect," said Barry-Murphy.

"I thought he defended really well today. The biggest thing of Dylan's learning is to go up against all those strikers and different teams that provide different tests. That will mean that he's consistently improving.

"He's still facing enough challenges to make him be really focused on his development and he's a very important part of the team."