Cardiff City have made it a priority to revamp the entire youth setup at the club in the hope of being self-sufficient.

The club recently brought in former star Craig Bellamy as the person in charge of the youth development. The arrival of former star, who has also played for Liverpool, Manchester City, and West Ham, has already had big implications for the youth setup at the club. A number of players aged between 19 and 23 have been allowed to leave the club on a permanent basis, while some are in discussions with interested parties in order to seek a move.

The massive clear-out comes as a result of Bellamy claiming that the setup is in need of a quality improvement. Rather than retain the players just for filling up the reserve squad, the club are going to allow players without a future at the Welsh outfit to join elsewhere.

This would increase the quality of the reserve team, thus providing the chance for talented youngsters to join from other parts of the world. The changes were primarily brought out by Bellamy, whom may not have been at the club had it been for the departure of Kevin Nicholson, who was the under 23 boss.

Cardiff have underperformed on and off the field in the last couple of years and they are once again struggling just in the mid-table places this season. "We had to cut back (the under-23s) because we had too many boys who were never going to play in our first team. If you're 17, 18, 19 you've got to be good enough to play in that first team," said Bellamy about his plans for the under 23 team. Bellamy recently took a sabbatical in order to improve his chances of becoming a coach. It is understood that he has learned a lot from City boss Pep Guardiola in this period.