Cardiff City ‘survive late scare’ over striker signing as ‘bid rejected’

Cardiff City look to have dodged a late bullet in their bid to land a new striker this month. The Bluebirds have been pursuing Valerenga forward Andrej Ilić, and there was good news over the weekend, with a breakthrough in negotations according to Norwegian media.

But no deal has come easy for City this month, and it emerged late on Monday night that Ligue 1 giants Lille had submitted an eleventh-hour to sign Ilic. Given the size of the French club, that would put Cardiff at an immediate disadvantage, but it seems the Bluebirds might have dodged a bullet.

According to TV2, who have been all over this particular transfer saga, Valerenga have rejected Lille’s bid, which reportedly promised an extra £600,000 or so in bonuses compared to City’s £3million bid. The reason was reportedly because Lille did not agree to a sell-on fee, which the Norwegian fee are intent on, given Ilic is still only 23 years of age and likely to improve.

The question now will be whether City can get the deal done before Lille come back in with an improved offer, if indeed they do. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, with the transfer window set to shut on Thursday night.