Stefan Bajic has jetted to France to complete a loan move with Ligue 2 side Valenciennes until the end of the season.
According to French publication La Voix Des Sportes, the 21-year-old stopper landed in his native country on Wednesday with the view of signing a contract tomorrow. He will reunite with their goalkeeping coach, Jeremie Janot, who worked with Bajic while he was coming through the ranks at St-Etienne.
Bajic is expected to become the club's No1 after Gautier Larsonneur left for St-Etienne earlier this month. Valenciennes currently sit 11th in the French second tier and are on a stretch of five games without a win.
The transfer will represent a good opportunity for the talent to gain further first-team experience having impressed during his time with the Under-21s following his summer arrival from Pau. He has made one appearance in the senior side coming in the 3-1 home defeat to Lincoln City.
Bajic made nine appearances in Ligue 1 and a further 15 in Ligue 2 for Pau before moving to the Robins on a free transfer. City rate the young stopper highly, and his contract runs until 2025, but his loan move suggests opportunities are likely to be few and far between now and the end of the season.
The loan move also suggests Dan Bentley is likely to remain at City beyond the January transfer window. Stoke City have shown an interest in bringing him on loan until the summer which will take the 29-year-old up until the end of his contract.
Bentley is just one of few options for manager Alex Neil with Leicester's Daniel Iversen also a possibility but judging by Nigel Pearson's comments last week, it suggests any potential offer by the Potters is way short of what they would require to sanction the deal.
He said: "It all depends on what you call a serious offer. You would be very, very surprised by what clubs deem to be reasonable offers. We will only move players if it’s in our interest to do it or if we feel it’s a fair situation.”
City will feel they are in a strong negotiating position with Stoke after they allowed second-choice stopper Joe Bursik to join Club Brugge at the weekend. There also remains the possibility, albeit unlikely, that both Bentley and Bajic will leave this month if the club have a replacement lined up.
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