January transfer window: Cody Drameh completes move to Cardiff City - despite injuries at parent club Leeds United

LEEDS UNITED full-back Cody Drameh has completed his move to Championship outfit Cardiff City on loan for the rest of the season.
Leeds United defender Cody Drameh, who has joined Cardiff City on loan.Leeds United defender Cody Drameh, who has joined Cardiff City on loan.
Leeds United defender Cody Drameh, who has joined Cardiff City on loan.

The 20-year-old, also the subject of reported interest from Nottingham Forest, has been allowed to continue his footballing education in the Principality for the remainder of 2021-22, despite his parent club suffering from availability issues in recent weeks which have propelled him to the first-team fray to provide cover.

Injuries dictated that Drameh, who joined Leeds for an initial £1m from Fulham in August 2020, featured at first-team level as recently as Sunday in United's FA Cup loss at West Ham.

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Drameh came on for Junior Firpo, who went off with what appeared to be blurred vision, on an afternoon when injury issues increased for Leeds, who were without ten players heading into the cup tie in the capital and added Sam Greenwood and potentially Firpo to the casualty count.

After Firpo's departure, Stuart Dallas switched to left-back to enable Drameh to feature on the right-hand side of defence. As it stands, Leeds - apart from Drameh - only have one recognised fit right-back in Luke Ayling.

Defenders Liam Cooper, Charlie Cresswell and Pascal Struijk are all currently sidelined, with United light in terms of rearguard options.

Drameh, who successfully underwent a medical in Cardiff on Wednesday, has featured five times at first-team level for Leeds and has made three Premier League appearances this term, most recently in the defeats to Manchester City and Arsenal.

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He made his senior debut earlier this season in the Carabao Cup tie at Arsenal.

Cardiff manager and ex-Leeds striker boss Steve Morison added: "It's excellent to have signed Cody for this loan spell. It's something that we've been looking to do for the last couple of weeks, with a lot of work going on behind the scenes.

"Cody is joining us having been at the top of our list of players in that position that we'd have liked to bring in. I'm really pleased that we've managed to get it over the line."

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