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Middlesbrough defender Aden Flint is en route to Championship rivals Cardiff City to complete a transfer worth up to £6m.

The strapping stopper is expected in South Wales to fine tune personal terms on the deal and take a medical today.

The clubs agreed a switch that is reported as an initial £4m price-tag but Teesside Live understands with clauses that could see the fee rise to £6m.

Central defender Flint only arrived at Boro last summer from Bristol City for an initial £5m.

Neil Warnock is looking to revamp his defence after relegation from the Premier League and sees Flint’s imposing physical presence and aerial prowess as a key building block.

Cardiff had been one of the teams linked with Flint when he was winning rave reviews in his final season at Bristol City, a campaign in which he scored nine goals from set plays.

That dead ball potency was one of the chief reasons that then boss Tony Pulis snapped him up for Boro.

But by Flint’s own admission, his first season at the Riverside was ‘diabolical’.

The 6ft 6in centre-back struggled to settle into a new shape and style and scored just once.

And Boro have been under some pressure to trim their wage bill and the exit of a big earner will help.

Flint will welcome the move to Cardiff where he will be a good fit with Warnock’s more pragmatic and direct approach.

Boro boss Jonathan Woodgate is looking to change the style at Boro this season and intends to play out from the back and wants his first choice central defenders to be comfortable on the ball.

(Image: Focus Images Limited)

That isn’t necessarily a strong suit for no-nonsense Flint so the exit suits all parties.

Boro will have Dani Ayala back soon from a slight knock and Dael Fry is expected to be back for the start of the season.

Ryan Shotton has played in the middle in pre-season while youngsters Sam Stubbs and Nathan Wood have also featured.