Cardiff boss Neil Warnock has confirmed reports that new Blues loanee Emyr Huws took a pay cut to join Town on deadline day. The 23-year-old Wales international will be at Portman Road for the remainder of the season.
"[Huws has] not had a look in, he’s a lovely lad, it shows how much he wanted to play because he’s paying some of own wages,” Warnock said, speaking at a press conference earlier today. "It’s unheard of for me, so it shows how much he wanted [to play].”
Warnock was initially keen to sign a Town player in a swap deal, almost certainly out-of-favour striker Leon Best, who played for him at Rotherham last season, but the former Ireland international has a groin injury which requires surgery.
"There aren't many lads like Emyr," Warnock added. "He came to see me and said he'd take a drop in wages to play. How many people say that, everybody just wants to stay put normally. He wanted to go. I was going to do a swap and unfortunately the player I wanted to swap was injured.
"I didn't want to stop him and Mick's a great pal of mine. I thought it'd give them another body really."
Huws played youth football with Swansea and then Manchester City, where he made one senior sub appearance.
While with City he spent time on loan at Northampton, Birmingham and Wigan before joining the Latics on a permanent basis in 2014.
A spell on loan at Huddersfield followed last season before he moved to the Bluebirds on a permanent basis last summer signing a three-year deal but has made only two starts and two sub appearances.
Huws has been capped 10 times by Wales at full level, scoring one goal, in addition to appearances for the U17s, U19s and U21s.
Speaking about the Llanelli-born midfielder yesterday, Town manager Mick McCarthy said: "Emyr Huws is a player of a real quality and he was of real promise when he was at Manchester City and he’s had a number of loan deals.
"He went to Cardiff and Neil Warnock picked and prepared his first team when Emyr was away on international duty and they’ve done all right since and he’s never got back in. He’s trained today and he’s trained really well.”
Former Blues midfielder Lee Martin was understood to have similarly taken a pay cut when he move to Charlton on loan at the start of the 2010/11 season.