When a player called Matthews makes his league debut at Blackpool, it’s inevitable that a superstar is in the making.

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It may be 56 years since the legendary England winger with the twinkling feet inspired the Tangerines to an extraordinary FA Cup victory over Bolton at Wembley in what is known to this day as ‘’The Matthews Final’’.

And the Matthews we are talking about today also happens to be called Adam, not Stanley.

But if the pundits at The Sun are to be believed, the 17-year-old Cardiff City full-back is about to join Manchester United and perhaps become as big a name in football as his illustrious namesake.

Such a move would crown a meteoric rise for the Swansea-born teenager, who only made his senior debut just over three months ago.

I was lucky enough to have been at Bloomfield Road on August 15 to see Matthews come on as replacement for the injured Paul Quinn – and look as cool and confident as if he’d been Cardiff’s regular right-back for years.

A dozen Championship appearances later, he’s being linked with a £5m move to Old Trafford in much the same way as another 17-year-old Bluebirds whiz-kid, Aaron Ramsey,  departed for Arsenal at the beginning of last season just as quickly as he had burst into the first-team reckoning.

Cardiff boss Dave Jones was quick to play down the Matthews story, insisting: ‘‘I will not comment on speculation about my players. We’ve had no offers for Adam.’’

But with the Welsh outfit’s rampant reputation as a selling club, I’d be surprised if there is not at least a grain of truth in the Sun rumours.

Cardiff fans had been hoping this week’s news that Malaysian business tycoon Dato Chan Tien Ghee has joined the board would reinforce the chances of keeping together a team with strong hopes of reaching the Premier League this season.

The January window will no doubt provide evidence one way or the other. But Bluebirds supporters remember only too well how almost an entire team of valuable assets has been sold to Premier League clubs in the last five years.

The list is staggering and includes Robert Earnshaw (£3m to West Brom), Danny Gabbidon and James Collins (£3.5m to West Ham), Cameron Jerome (£3m to Birmingham), Michael Chopra (£5m to Sunderland – bought back since for a rumoured £4m), Chris Gunter (£3m to Spurs), Glenn Loovens (£3m to Celtic), Aaron Ramsey (£5m to Arsenal), Roger Johnson (£5m to Birmingham).

Throw in United’s projected £5m for Matthews, and that rounds up to more than £35m in sales income – plus quite possibly missing out on promotion yet again.

Had those players all stayed, I have no doubt Cardiff City would be a solid fixture in the Premier League by now.

It may make business sense to the board of a debt-ridden club to sell its best assets, but is an almost certain place in the Premier League not worth more than £35m?

That’s one for chairman Peter Ridsdale and his fellow directors to answer. But as a lifelong Bluebirds fan, my answer would be a resounding NO.

And I’ll bet most of my fellow City supporters feel the same way.