Dan Bentley is edging closer to a permanent move away after Wolves and Bristol City agreed a nominal fee, Bristol Live understands.
It's now expected the club captain will leave for the Premier League this week which would prove the third significant departure during the January transfer window following Ryley Towler's permanent move to Portsmouth and Stefan Bajic's loan switch to Valenciennes.
Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui wanted to bring in a new goalkeeper with experience this month to provide competition for No1 Jose Sa. Their back-up stopper Matija Sarkic will be free to leave as a result.
Bentley, 29, joined City for £2million from Brentford in 2019 during a period when the club spent big in an attempt to mount a promotion push. Tomas Kalas, Nahki Wells, Han-Noah Massengo, Jay Dasilva and Kasey Palmer also arrived during that summer.
Last week, Nigel Pearson said nothing was off the table in regard to Bentley's immediate future despite allowing Bajic to leave temporarily until the end of the season. Although he claimed it would only happen should they have a replacement lined up with Max O'Leary potentially left as the only senior keeper in the squad.
City were open to letting Bentley leave after entering the final six months of his contract with Stoke City also showing an interest. He is also among the higher earners in the squad with a necessity to continue reducing the wage bill.
When asked about his situation at the club, Pearson said last week: "There has been speculation about Dan’s position. How do we sit with that? We have two very good keepers at the football club.
"Max is playing well at the moment and we’ll see how things develop. I’m not ruling anything in or out. Dan’s contract is up at the end of the season, we’ll see if anything develops.
“We can never leave ourselves short, we always need to have the right cover. For argument’s sake if something happens with Dan in the last week-and-a-half, we’d need somebody else to come in, we’re never gonna leave ourselves short.
"It’s important to have conversations with players about where they sit. Their agents can talk to the club, they can do whatever they want. I’ll talk to the players.”
Towards the end of last season, Bentley suggested his representatives had begun talks over a potential contract extension but that deal has failed to materialise. He started the season as the club's No1 but was dropped in favour of O'Leary following a 3-0 defeat to Birmingham in October.
He hasn't seen a minute of action since with Pearson opting to hand Bajic his first-team debut in the Carabao Cup defeat against Lincoln while also sticking with O'Leary in the FA Cup victory over Swansea.
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