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Cardiff City are ready to cut their losses on £8.5m flop Andreas Cornelius - by selling him back to FC Copenhagen.

And the Bluebirds are willing to take a £5m hit on the striker after opening negotiations with his former club about a shock January deal. The Danish Superliga club revealed the move on their official Twitter account.

Translation: The club is close to closing a deal with Andreas Cornelius. More to follow in the coming days ..

Bluebirds boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made his feelings clear on 20-year-old Cornelius after bringing in Kenwyne Jones from Stoke and remaining keen on signing a second new striker in the final 48 hours of the transfer window.

But he has been told he has to try and raise some cash after shelling out for Manchester United defender Fabio da Silva and his trio of Norwegians – as well as a loan fee for the proposed Wilfried Zaha deal, all following a £30m spend in the summer.

And with Cornelius surplus to requirements, Cardiff are ready to accept they got it wrong with the powerful young frontman and are prepared to take a massive loss on a player who was a record signing at the time of his arrival.

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Championship side Middlesbrough were reported to have declared an interest while CSKA Moscow – who rivalled Cardiff for his signature in June – are thought to be in the running for the rookie Dane’s services upon his exit.

But sources both in South Wales and Scandinavia have said a deal is on with Copenhagen, although is not near completion yet.

It is thought Cornelius would move back to the Danish capital for around £3m, some £5m less than the fee agreed by former Cardiff chief Malky Mackay to lure him to Cardiff City Stadium.

But shifting Cornelius’ reportedly substantial wages off the salary bill would aid Solskjaer’s bid to add further new faces to his squad before close of transfer business on Friday and the club’s push for Premier League survival.

There have been claims negotiations have been complicated by having to agree a pay-off for the Denmark international, but Cardiff will be hopeful of coming to an arrangement in time for potential deadline day action.