Cardiff City have beaten a number Championship clubs to the loan signing of Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic.

The Serbia U21 international, a product of the Red Star Belgrade academy, will go straight into Neil Warnock’s squad for their visit to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

The 21-year old has made just eight appearances for Liverpool since becoming Jurgen Klopp’s first signing for £5.1m in January 2016.

Warnock had previously been linked with a £3m move for Middlesbrough’s Adam Forshaw. However, Grujic’s desire to move to Wales for more game time convinced the manager to beat Middlesbrough and Aston Villa to the Serb’s signature.

With Cardiff having suffered a number of long term injuries, including the absence of Icelandic midfielder Aron Gunnarsson, the arrival of Grujic will strengthen a key area as the Bluebirds gear up for the promotion run in.

Grujic has made six appearances for Liverpool this season and hasn’t featured since the win at Brighton in early December.

Speaking about Grujic in Decemeber, Klopp revealed his plans to let him leave on loan.

‘He’s right, Marko deserves to play more now,’ Klopp said after comments from Grujic’s agent about his client needing more game time.

‘If it’s not possible here then we need to think about it (a loan).

‘I like the boy a lot. He has made progress like hell. His heading is outstanding but he doesn’t make the squad a lot which isn’t the best thing for him for sure.

‘We will think about it. We always want to help the players. First of all as a club we have to think about ourselves.

‘I really see Marko in the future playing for Liverpool. But he’s not playing in the moment so we have to see what we can do to make it more likely that he comes through in the near future.’