Brentford are closing in on the signing of Michael Kayode from Fiorentina in a move that could allow the defender Mads Roerslev to leave.

Kayode, an Italy Under-21 defender who broke into Fiorentina’s first team last season, is due for his medical on Wednesday after Brentford agreed a loan with an option to make it permanent for £13.5m in the summer.

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The 20-year-old, linked with Liverpool and Tottenham in the past, will provide reinforcement for Thomas Frank’s injury-hit squad, with the Scotland right-back Aaron Hickey expected to be out until April with a hamstring problem.

Kayode’s arrival could allow Roerslev, who joined Brentford’s B team in August 2019 as a free agent, to depart. Wolfsburg are understood to have made an approach to take him on loan with a view to a permanent move in the summer. The 25-year-old Denmark international has made 121 league appearances for the club, 50 of them as a substitute.

Brentford rejected a £22m bid from Nottingham Forest for Yoane Wissa on Tuesday and are adamant that the DR Congo forward is not for sale.

The former Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha has joined the Major League Soccer side Charlotte on loan from Galatasaray until 2026. The 32-year-old has been on loan at Lyon but has made only one start and five substitute appearances.

Zaha left Palace, for whom he has played 458 times and scored 90 goals across two spells, for Galatasaray on a free in 2023 and helped the club win the Turkish league title in his only full season.

Zoran Krneta, general manager of North Carolina-based Charlotte, said on the club website: “Wilfried is a world-class talent who has proven himself at the highest level of the sport as an elite goalscorer and chance creator. His performances in the Premier League and on the international level speak for themselves and we are confident that Wilfried can make an immediate impact in Major League Soccer.”

Zaha will fill a designated player spot at Charlotte, a rule which allows a franchise to sign up to three players who would otherwise fall foul of a team’s salary cap.