A FOOTBALLER who grew up in Basingstoke is celebrating one of the best weeks of his career after helping Cardiff City secure promotion back to the Championship, and earning a place in the EFL's League One Team of the Season.
Joel Bagan, 24, has been a near ever-present figure at left-back for the Bluebirds this season, featuring in 43 of Cardiff's League One matches and clocking up more than 3,400 minutes on the pitch .
The defender, who was born in Basingstoke and joined Cardiff's academy from Southampton at 16, has grown into one of the club's most dependable performers, and this campaign has arguably been his best yet for the Bluebirds.
Cardiff sealed their return to the second tier with a commanding 3-1 victory away at Reading on April 19, with the Bluebirds finishing second in the League One table, currently on 88 points with two games left in the campaign.
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For Bagan, who has now become the longest-serving first-team player at the club, the moment carried a deeply personal significance.
"It's something you dream about when you are a kid," he told Cardiff City TV after the win. "I remember the year I joined when I was 16, and it was the year we went up to the Premier League.
"You wonder what it's like to be part of a team that gets promoted, so to do that, and to do it with boys I've known for a long time, makes it even more special."
The recognition did not stop at promotion. On Sunday, April 19, Bagan was named in the official EFL Sky Bet League One Team of the Year, and is the only Cardiff player to earn a place in the side.
It was a nod to a campaign that saw him rack up four assists and keep a clean sheet in 17 of his league appearances, combining reliable defensive work with an increasing threat going forward.
With his contract at Cardiff up in the summer, reports emerged this week that Premier League side Sunderland and Premier League promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town have been watching Bagan closely.
The Bluebirds are said to be pushing hard to tie him down to a new contract ahead of their return to the second tier.
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