Burton Albion target outgoing Cardiff City defender Ben Turner

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The Brewers are hoping to land former Coventry defender Ben Turner on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of the month

Ben Turner is wanted by Burton

Cardiff City’s outgoing defender Ben Turner is a target for Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion, according to the Burton Mail.

Turner’s contract with the Bluebirds will expire at the end of the month and Cardiff have already announced that they will not retain their long serving defender.

And the Burton Mail understand that talks have already begun between the player’s representatives and the club.

Turner will leave Cardiff after five years at the club

Burton won promotion to the Championship last season after a second placed finish in League One, completing a stunning rise from non-league football to England’s second tier.

They made their first appearance in England’s professional leagues only in 2009 after comfortably securing promotion from the Conference. After three years in League Two, it would be under Gary Rowett that Burton won promotion again, this time through the playoffs.

And last season, following the departure of Rowett and then Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink midway through the season, Nigel Clough returned to the club he left in the conference to help the Brewers secure their highest ever league position and win promotion to the Championship for the first time.

Nigel Clough has taken Burton into the Championship

Having risen through the football league so quickly, it is imperative that the Brewers invest in their squad in order for them to have any chance of keeping their head above water next season.

And Nigel Clough is already seeking out players of Championship pedigree, underlined by Ben Turner.

Turner, who is only 28, has spent five years with Cardiff after joining the club from Coventry in 2011, becoming an integral part of the Welsh club’s back four.

Ben Turner has played in the Premier League with Cardiff

He was at the heart of the side that won the Championship in 2013, as well as famously scoring against Liverpool in their penalty shoot-out defeat in the League cup final of 2012.

However, after making just one appearance for Cardiff last season, he is now surplus to requirements at the Cardiff City stadium, and will the club on July 1^st.