Mark Bloom, South Wales Echo

PETER Ridsdale has today revealed how Cardiff City are spending the £5m raised by the sale of Michael Chopra to Sunderland. The transfer window closed yesterday with no new faces at the club.

And with the signings of former Premiership stars like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Robbie Fowler and Trevor Sinclair all being free transfers, the burning question on the lips of most City supporters is: Why has the £5m not been spent on extra players? But Ridsdale has responded by saying the money has actually been used to fund some of the new star names' high wages.

"What we have done this season is to bring in a substantial number of players with proven quality and we have had to pay what we think are the right wages," said Ridsdale. "So when we look at selling a player like Chopra we want to make the best use of that money and with some of that money we have accepted that our wage bill will be higher then last season's."

And in an exclusive interview with the Echo, Ridsdale has also revealed the Bluebirds have actually received only part of the £5m from Sunderland, with the whole transfer being paid over two years. Ridsdale also declared City have had to repay Newcastle United £400,000 of the £500,000 fee they originally paid for Chopra, with the initial deal being based on yearly instalments of £100,000.