SCOTLAND Under 21 striker Islam Feruz will join Cardiff City on loan this week after a bizarre change of heart.
The Chelsea striker has turned his back on Scotland and indicated he no longer wants to be considered for now.
Former Celtic hitman Feruz has been targeted by the English Championship club for a move to Wales after two loan spells this season in Russia and Greece turned sour.
Cardiff were stunned to hear that Feruz didn't want to move to Cardiff and assumed the deal was off. However, the 19-year-old, who is represented by Ebrahim Sanneh, personally phoned Cardiff boss Russell Slade to assure him he wanted to move to South Wales.
Slade explained: ""We were told Islam wasn't coming down, but he's here and training with us.
"We'll have talks over the next few days. If this works out as we hope he could be in the squad against Fulham in the weekend."
Feruz caused controversy when he turned his back on playing for Scotland again this summer.
He made it clear he wasn't interested in playing for the Scotland Under 19 side in their Euro Elite qualifiers in England in May and instead jetted off to Hong Kong to play for a Chelsea select in a seven-a-side tournament.
SFA bosses even changed the rules to allow Feruz to play for Scotland when then-chief executive Gordon Smith pushed through a change allowing youngsters who had gone through a country's education system to represent their adopted nation.
But he hasn't featured at any level for Scotland since playing in a 6-0 hammering by England 18 months ago at Under 21 level.
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