Dave Jones surprised Ledley is set to snub English top flight for Celtic

CARDIFF City manager Dave Jones has revealed his surprise that Joe Ledley looks set to turn down the opportunity to play in the Barclays Premier League in favour of a move to Celtic.

Jones expects the midfielder to join Neil Lennon at Celtic, despite also holding talks with Stoke and having been linked with a host of other English top-flight clubs. The Wales international and his agent David Baldwin visited Celtic Park for discussions with club officials this week and the 23-year-old has been offered a reported 25,000 weekly wage to move to Glasgow.

Jones said: "Joe's decided that he wants to go to Celtic so all the best to him and we move on. I'm disappointed that I've lost a very, very good player but if that's what he's decided to do, I wish him all the very best. I'm surprised, I thought he wanted Premiership football. But we had no contact from any Premiership club except Stoke.

"We were never made an offer from any club for Joe. Joe's been a free since December. I'm close friends with Tony (Pulis]. Tony never made him an offer. He wanted a player swap and we weren't prepared to do that. We made Joe a fantastic offer to stay. Joe decided that he wanted to ply his trade elsewhere, which he's entitled to do."

Ledley has made more than 250 appearances for Cardiff after making his debut aged 17 and has 32 caps for his country. The Championship club would expect several million pounds of compensation should Ledley move to an English team but Fifa's transfer age limit is a year less for cross-border rules, meaning Celtic would acquire the player for free.

However, Jones believes Cardiff would still be owed some money should Ledley opt for the Hoops. He added: "There's a training compensation when you cross border and we'll be arguing that out with them now."

Meanwhile, Cardiff have confirmed they want to resign Glenn Loovens just two years after selling him to Celtic. Jones said: "Glenn is a player I would like to bring back to Cardiff. I don't have the finances to buy players just now, but if Glenn was available on loan that would be a possibility."

Meanwhile, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce confirmed he has held talks with Celtic target Sol Campbell but insisted the former England international is just one of his options as he bids to strengthen his defence.