Cardiff City close to finalising transfer agreement for 22-year-old | OneFootball

Cardiff City are closing in on the loan signing of Stoke City midfielder Alfie Doughty, as per a report from talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook.

The 22-year-old has only been a semi-regular figure for Michael O’Neill’s men during the 2021/22 campaign thus far, making just 11 league appearances despite his versatility with all of these outings coming from the bench.

Starting all of the Potters’ FA and Carabao Cup ties this term, he has established himself as more of a fringe player and has even failed to appear in each of the Staffordshire outfit’s past three second-tier matchday squads.

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With this, he has seemingly been deemed surplus to requirements for the remainder of the season, with O’Neill’s side sanctioning a loan move for Doughty to link up with Championship rivals Cardiff for the remainder of the season.

The Bluebirds are currently limited in the business they can do in the January window, limitations that were known prior to this month with chairman Mehmet Dalman admitting back in October that the club’s financial situation looked bleak.

Nonetheless, they look set to be busy from now until deadline day with Doughty set to join and The Telegraph’s John Percy reporting that West Bromwich Albion loanee Jordan Hugill is also close to arriving at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Steve Morison already moved earlier in the month to secure the loan signatures of Leeds United’s Cody Drameh and Manchester City’s Tommy Doyle.

The Verdict

This move is probably a good one for all parties.

For Stoke, they will be able to see one of their promising young players receive plenty of game time but at the same time, remain at the same level as well, giving the 22-year-old the chance to show he can be a real asset at this level.

If they remain in the second tier next season, they can then make a better judgement call on whether he’s ready to be a key member of their first-team squad or not, potentially coming in as a replacement for Romaine Sawyers who’s only on loan at the bet365 Stadium.

For the Bluebirds, he should be a reasonably cheap addition and with second-tier experience under his belt already, they should see Doughty fit in seamlessly, potentially as a replacement for Ryan Giles who isn’t certain to return.

Not only will this loan be beneficial to the clubs, but also the player himself who will be eager to receive more first-team minutes, whether he plays in the middle of the park or at left wing-back.