Lack of EU passport means Cardiff unlikely to return for defender after initial €9m bid got rejected

Yesterday evening, Le10 Sport came out of nowhere with a story claiming Cardiff City had made a €9m offer for Lille’s Zeki Çelik.

Much like Nicolas Pepe and Jonathan Bamba, the right-back has been key to the Ligue 1 side’s great form under Christophe Galtier this season, leading to the aforementioned bid.

The French outlet then went on to state Loïc Rémy had been offered to Cardiff City as part of the same negotiations, with the Bluebirds mulling over a potential double deal that would see them pay a bit more for the Turkish defender and bring in the French forward on loan.

This, however, will not be happening, according to Bilel Ghazi at L’Equipe, who confirms the €9m offer from the Premier League side, but goes on to explain it’s unlikely they’ll come back with an improved offer.

One of the reasons for this is Çelik’s lack of a European passport, which would have caused difficulties in him acquiring a work permit to play for the Welsh side.