Cardiff City 'willing listeners' on Gareth Bale transfer as Mehmet Dalman reveals stance on Joe Ralls

Cardiff City are "willing listeners with open arms" if Gareth Bale decides he wants to play for his hometown club.

Chairman Mehmet Dalman confirmed the Bluebirds' stance with speculation linking Bale and Cardiff refusing to go away despite the obvious financial gulf in what the player is used to be being paid and what the club could afford.

A sensational Bale transfer remains unlikely in reality, but there will be a complete transformation of the Bluebirds squad over the coming weeks with a raft of players to leave at the end of their contracts. Manager Steve Morison has already held talks with new targets ( you can read about them here ), and between 10 and 15 new faces are expected to arrive this summer.

Gareth Bale to Cardiff City makes so much sense this summer for personal and footballing reasons

Dalman told BBC Radio Wales: "I have nothing to add [on Bale] to what you already know. Gareth Bale is going to do what Gareth Bale wants and we are willing listeners with open arms if he chooses to do that."

He continued: "It's been a difficult season, not just for Cardiff but for the league in general. It will be good to get this season behind us.

"Our team have been really busy, both the football side and management side, going through the strategy and looking at who is going to be coming in. We are well prepared to enter that market. It will be challenging but also exciting. We have some really good lads coming through the academy and we're looking to bring some young fresh blood into the team and a few experienced ones.

"It is exciting. There will be players available and all we have to do is convince players that what we are trying to do is something they want to be part of."

One of the players whose contract is