From derby hero to being separated from the squad – Ollie Tanner is Cardiff City's talented enigma

Ask any Cardiff City fan and they will tell you the sight of Ollie Tanner chopping inside and banging the ball into the bottom corner of Swansea City's net last October was their moment of the season.

It felt like a seminal moment in the young winger's career, a strike that would propel him both into club folklore and into the hearts of the Bluebirds faithful.

And people might forget that it wasn't just that one game in which he turned the tide — he also earned the penalty which Aaron Ramsey slotted home to double the lead — he enjoyed a fantastic start to the season. Despite what Erol Bulut said, he tore apart would-be promotion winners Ipswich Town at Portman Road and gave Wales international Jay Dasilva a torrid time in the home win over Coventry.

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Top displays at home against Watford and a lively outing off the bench against Sunderland were all hallmarks of a consistent performer at Championship level — something of a bonus for a fan base, and no doubt manager, who were expecting him to play only a bit-part last season.

Because his first year with the Bluebirds was a bit of a mess. He spent the first few months training with the first team and playing largely for the under-21s before he went on loan at York City, which proved an utter disaster. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

Most City fans would have expected Tanner to head out on loan again at the start of last season, but he took his chance in pre-season, impressed the new manager and earned his shot at becoming that derby hero. His bullish, almost tub-thumping, press conference after a man-of-the-match performance against Colchester last summer showed an edge to him that fans took to.

"I came back this summer and was probably not in the best place. I didn't have a very good loan last year. I've worked very hard in pre-season to stay in the plans, but I scored a few goals and I thought I did well," he said back in August.

"The manager has given me a chance in this game and every time you play it is a chance to show what you can do. When I get the chance to do that then I have to.

"We have signed some top players, especially in my position, so it'll be hard for me. I am young and there are boys with 200, 300 appearances at this level – I'm not deluded. They are going to be in the team, they're going to play.

"But I am going to challenge them. I won't go away."

Those early-season performances were exciting and, coupled with the positive results on the pitch, he seemed to embody this bold new era under Bulut.

He plays without a care, socks rolled down, dauntlessly running at defenders and when it comes off, that's what fans love. He's an uncut gem still, but has bags of potential and anyone can see that. His old boss as Lewes told us he has all the attributes to be the next Gareth Bale – that might be jumping the gun just a tad, but you can see why excitement was drummed up around him.

Of course, the 22-year-old has stepped up five tiers. He is training like a professional footballer for the first time in his career and has had less than two years in the pro system. He is likely still not fully equipped to deal with the rough and tumble of the game and having to bounce from one game to the next.

Indeed, the highs he felt after those early games, and that match-winning performance over Swansea in particular, will have been new ground for him and he would have been flying. As a consequence, he struggled to get back on terra firma, according to Bulut.

Cardiff, it is understood, explored the option of Tanner potentially going on loan back in January, but the window turned into a bit of a farce, which wasn't the club's fault, and they needed all the bodies they could. The next month, though, Tanner found himself out of the match day squad amid a wobble in his personal form and poor team results.

He played just 34 minutes for Cardiff in the month of February despite being fully fit. Asked about the situation, Bulut said: "I have spoken with him many times. The last two weeks he is doing better in the training sessions. If he continues to train like that, mentally and physically, he will be with us.

"I will remind you of one Premier League coach, Ange Postecoglou, saying about having the wrong person in the dressing room can destroy a lot of things. This, we don't want. This, we try and manage here in our team. We want the correct characters and players in the dressing room. Everyone must help each other.

"Young players can have one or two great games and afterwards, they are flying a little bit. So, to bring them back, it takes time. Ollie had a bit of something like that, I spoke with him many times and the last two weeks he is doing well. Whether it's Ollie Tanner, someone else, it doesn't matter, I want the best performance and they have to give the best performance.

"If the body language in the training or dressing room is wrong then we have to separate him."

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Bulut takes a no-nonsense approach to his players — see also Ryan Wintle, Callum Robinson and Mahlon Romeo throughout the course of last season — but slowly reintegrated Tanner towards the back end of the campaign.

Interestingly, he finished the season with three decent outings at left-back, providing a real attacking flourish to the left-hand side of City's defence — although they conceded 10 goals in the three matches he played there.

Whether that is something Cardiff will revisit next season remains to be seen, but it's a narrative to keep an eye on in pre-season, potentially. Because he has real talent and an ability to run at players and beat defenders, just as good if not better than anyone else in the squad in that discipline.

A whirlwind year, a breakthrough year in many regards, has concluded and Tanner will be wiser and a better player for it. He remains something of an enigma, though, and one wonders what he will produce next year. But there's a player in there and Bulut knows it — he handed him a new deal last year — it's just how he coaxes it out of him, and in which position, next season.