Tonight's Cardiff City transfer news as club target free agent and contract signed

Here are your Cardiff City headlines for Thursday, June 13.

Cardiff linked with right-back

Cardiff City have been linked with right-back Jordan Williams following his release from Barnsley.

The Bluebirds have Perry Ng and Mahlon Romeo in that position currently, however the former is said to be the subject of transfer interest both domestically and abroad, while the latter fell out of favour under Erol Bulut.

And now the Portsmouth News claim both Pompey and Cardiff are keen on adding the 24-year-old former England youth international to their ranks.

Williams was with Huddersfield Town during their time in the Premier League but failed to make a league appearance for the Terriers before joining Barnsley in League One in 2018.

He has gone on to make more than 200 appearances for the Tykes, 72 of which came in the Championship, scoring nine goals and providing 15 assists along the way.

READ MORE: Cardiff City transfer state of play as big summer of business begins tomorrow

READ MORE: Cardiff midfielder sends Bulut reminder as star makes shock switch

Turner signs new deal

Goalkeeper Matt Turner has signed a new deal with the club which will keep him in south Wales until at least 2026.

The 22-year-old, who has previously had loan spells at Haverfordwest County and Aberystwyth Town, is currently third choice behind Ethan Horvath and Jak Alnwick, although found himself on the bench a good chunk of the time last season owing to an injury to the latter.

It was announced when the retained list was confirmed that Turner had been offered new terms and he is now delighted to have signed on the dotted line. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

“I’m delighted," he said. "It’s been on-going for a while, but I’m glad it’s all sorted now. It’s a proud moment for me and my family. Being from Wales, it’s a massive honour to play for Cardiff City.

"Working with Mario Galinović is brilliant. He teaches us a lot and for me as a young goalkeeper, I’ve got a lot to learn, so having him is ideal for me. I had around 20 appearances on the First Team bench last year.

"I’ve got two good goalkeepers ahead of me that I can learn from and we’ll see what happens. They’re both great and they’re open if I have any questions. They’re happy to help me and it’s great to learn from them."

Academy chief: Youngsters' success a shot in the arm

The opening of a new academy site in Llanrumney and the progression of rising stars into the first team has given the club's youth setup a "shot in the arm", according to academy boss Gavin Chesterfield.

It's been a big year for City's young stars, with the likes of Cian Ashford, Luey Giles, Raheem Conte and Joel Colwill all getting their Championship debuts, while others turned out in the Carabao Cup.

The club's multi-million-pound academy site in Llanrumney is also an incredibly impressive structure and the club hope it will become a landmark place for where the best and brightest of footballers in south Wales come to play. Indeed, Chesterfield believes the sheer investment underlines the importance of the academy to the club.

“Moving to Llanrumney has given us such a foothold back in the centre of Cardiff that has always produced players. More than anything, it’s given us a real shot in the arm, because it’s an indicator of the value that the club places upon young players at our academy," he said.

“It’s given us more flexibility in our programme. Previously, we operated across five sites at any time and that was difficult, but now being on one site, it’s given us more flexibility and has allowed us to be more creative. That can only be a benefit for the development of our players.”

On the youngsters making their debuts, he added: “It’s great to see for all the staff at the Academy, but also everyone who have been here previously.

“Everyone plays a part and we can be really proud of the dent that was made by our academy. Eleven percent of our first-team minutes in the 2023/24 season was made up by academy graduates. We have designs to improve upon that massively.

“It’s been a positive year and whilst I appreciated seeing players making their first-team debuts, scoring goals and playing well, it can’t be understated how inspirational it is for our current players as well. It has been nice to see our younger players connect with the players that have broken through. It gives our academy an injection of added desire.”

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Legg gets head coach job

Former Cardiff academy coach and player Andy Legg has a new job as head coach of Afan Lido FC.

Legg was Cardiff under-23s boss but left the club in November 2019 as part of a shake-up to the youth team setup. He has since been doing punditry work covering both Cardiff and Swansea, having famously played for both.

"We are delighted to announce the arrival of Andy Legg as our first team coach," the JD Cymru South side said in a statement. "Andy is a former Welsh international with more than 500 Football League appearances to his name.

"He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the club with an impressive coaching resume that includes spells at Cardiff City and Llanelli, managing the latter in the Europa League.

"Andy will join team manager Paul Evans in the dugout and will be a huge addition to the coaching team."