Cardiff land Manchester United defender Fish

Former Cardiff boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave Will Fish his senior debut on the final day of the 2020-21 Premier League season

Cardiff City have signed Manchester United defender Will Fish in a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee, which is thought to be close to £1m but could eventually reach £3m with add-ons.

The Premier League side have also negotiated a buy-back option and a 30% sell-on clause.

The 21-year-old centre-back has been on the books of Manchester United since he joined their academy at the age of seven.

In the last two seasons, Fish has had loans spells with Scottish Premiership club Hibernian, featuring in their Europa Conference League campaign in 2023-24.

Fish went on United’s pre-season tour of the USA only to be injured against Liverpool, but has now recovered and with Cardiff, who have been admirers for some time.

The signing is a boost ahead of this weekend's south Wales derby at Swansea City, although the fixture may come too soon for Fish to be involved.

Fish said: "It’s a huge club. The direction that the club want to go in, you’ve seen a lot of good signings in this window.

"Being a part of that is really exciting and I’m happy to be here. Hopefully I can do my best for the team."

The arrival of Fish is part of a busy few days in the market for the Bluebirds, with the transfer window closing at 23:00 BST on Friday, 30 August.

Cardiff have agreed the transfer of centre-half Mark McGuinness to Championship rivals Luton Town in a deal which could eventually be worth £10m.

They have also signed former Norway Under-21s defender Jesper Daland from Belgian Pro League outfit Cercle Brugge, for a fee of about £3.5m.

Cardiff have conceded seven goals in their opening two Championship games of the season and, after the 5-0 defeat at Burnley last weekend, manager Erol Bulut said he was hopeful of making signings this week.

Bulut said of Fish's signing: “He is a young defender, who has been at Manchester United for many years, so has had a good education from them.

"For the last two years he was in Hibernian, so we watched him and we were interested in him in January too.

“We hope that he will progress with us in a good way. He is still 21 years old, just starting his career, and he is good on the ball, good in duels, so he will add to our playing style."

Fish is Cardiff’s seventh signing of the summer following Calum Chambers, Chris Willock, Alex Robertson, Wilfried Kanga, Anwar El Ghazi and Daland.