CRAIG BELLAMY is poised to leave Liverpool FC for hometown club Cardiff City within the next 24 hours – as Swansea City prepared for talks over the future of Anfield target Joe Allen.
Bellamy is expected to join the Welsh club on a free transfer after his participation with Team GB in the Olympics ended at the quarter-final stage over the weekend.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had been keen to hold on to the 33-year-old, who was an inspirational presence for the Anfield outfit last season having arrived from Manchester City.
But Rodgers is reluctantly allowing Bellamy to leave on personal grounds, with the striker keen to move nearer to his family in South Wales.
Bellamy had also been a target for Queens Park Rangers until it became clear Cardiff would be his only destination, Liverpool unwilling to sell the player to another Premier League club.
The Wales international, who skippered Stuart Pearce’s Team GB side in their penalty shoot-out defeat to South Korea at the Millennium Stadium, spent a season on loan at Cardiff in 2010-11.
Bellamy’s transfer would signal the end of his second spell at Liverpool, having scored nine times in 42 appearances during his initial stay in the 2006-07 campaign.
However, he made a greater impact last season, netting nine times in 37 appearances and scoring the goal that took Liverpool into the Carling Cup final against Cardiff City and also creating Andy Carroll’s matchwinner in the FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Wembley.
With Bellamy set to follow Maxi Rodriguez, Alberto Aquilani and Dirk Kuyt through the exit, Rodgers will now step up efforts to strengthen his squad.
