Cardiff City are in advanced talks to bring Aston Villa right-back Frederic Guilbert to the club on loan for the rest of the season, per Football Insider.

The Frenchman had already rejected a move to Turkish giants Istanbul Basaksehir and if any move was to be made by him in the window, it looked likely to be to another English club.

Football Insider reported yesterday that Cardiff, Bristol City and Middlesbrough were interested in taking Guilbert in for the rest of the current campaign.

Bluebirds boss Neil Harris told the media that Guilbert 'may' be one of 85 right-backs he and the club have looked at in terms of bringing one in, and now it looks likely to be him than Crewe defender Perry Ng, who they had a bid knocked back for last week.

Guilbert would bring some Premier League quality in to the Cardiff line-up, having played 25 times in the top flight last season for Villa (transfermarkt).

But he dropped down to third-choice in the pecking order behind summer recruit Matty Cash and the long-serving Ahmed Elmohamady, with Dean Smith clearly feeling he now has enough depth for him to be not needed for at least the rest of the season.

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And Cardiff seems to be the ideal move for Guilbert, as he joins a club that has been in desperate need of a right-back for months following the hamstring injury to Arsenal loanee Jordi Osei-Tutu.

Leandro Bacuna has been deputising for the last few months but it was clear to everyone that a new natural full-back was needed, and Harris looks set to bring in someone with lots of quality.

The Verdict

This is a top, top signing for Cardiff.

After performing pretty well for Villa last season, Guilbert can probably feel a bit hard done-by to end up being third choice at the club but now he looks to rebuild his reputation.

And when Osei-Tutu recovers from his injury, Cardiff will then have two decent right-backs to choose from when they've had a grand total of zero since mid-October - expect them to climb up the table now they'll have a bit more balance in their line-up.