Cardiff City striker Kenwyne Jones is set to leave the Bluebirds in January for a bumper pay-day abroad, WalesOnline can reveal.
The 31-year-old marksman will head out on loan from the Welsh capital with a club in Dubai, Qatar, China or America’s MLS the likely destination.
The deal will become permanent in the summer when Jones’ current contract comes to an end at Cardiff.
The Bluebirds hierarchy have decided to get the Trinidad & Tobago international off the wage bill after Jones and his representatives decided against signing a new contract in the Welsh capital which would have seen the frontman’s wages slashed.
Jones is currently the highest paid player at the club, on a basic salary of £35,000 a week. This figure is seen as unsustainable as Bluebirds’ owner Vincent Tan has called on manager Russell Slade to cut his playing budget over the past year.
Jones joined the Bluebirds in January 2014 from Stoke in a deal which saw Peter Odemwingie move in the opposite direction. Jones has made 67 appearances for Cardiff, firing 19 goals in the process.
He was the Bluebirds’ top-scorer last season. As Slade’s men try to cling onto their hope of a Championship play-off place this term, Jones has scored five so far, his latest coming as he fired a brace in the win over Brentford earlier this month.
The transfer window will now reopen from this Saturday and Jones’ representatives are thought to already be in negotiations with a clutch of overseas’s clubs.
Slade himself is set to make the signing of Tony Watt permanent when the striker’s current loan deal from Charlton comes to an end on January 16.
Jones’ departure will also see the Bluebirds on the look out for a new target man. It looks likely they will try to bring in a striker from the Premier League on loan if possible to fill the big boots left by Jones.