Cardiff City completed a shock loan move for Shamrock Rovers teenager Aaron Bolger on Monday afternoon.

The young midfielder comes to south Wales with a big billing in his homeland, but how good is he and why have the Bluebirds signed him?

Here's the profile of the 18-year-old midfielder...

Who is he?

Aaron Bolger, 18, is a central midfielder who has been playing for Irish giants Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland for the past year or so.

He has played 27 matches, scoring once, three of those appearances coming in the Europa League.

How good is he?

Irish Mirror football correspondent Paul O'Hehir reveals that Bolger is a diminutive but talented box-to-box midfielder.

"He's technically excellent," said Paul.

"Very small in stature but well capable of putting himself about as well. Not afraid of a tackle, that's for sure.

"He wasn't always in the Rovers team but their manager, Stephen Bradley, has put a lot of emphasis in youth since taking charge a couple of years ago and isn't afraid to play 'the kids'.

"Aaron wouldn't have been a regular starter but played his fair share of games — usually in a deep midfield role in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

"He has been highly thought of here since breaking into the team. As I said, he's small and you'd wonder would that count against him but again, he's well able to put himself about."

Why are Cardiff interested?

There has, according to the Irish Mirror , been interest in Bogler from a number of clubs from across the Irish Sea.

"Preston certainly were interested as they've signed a few League of Ireland players of late like Sean Maguire and Graham Burke," added Paul.

Bolger has also been an an Irish underage international.

Current Republic of Ireland Under-21s boss Stephen Kenny, the former Dundalk boss who will take over the senior Irish job from Mick McCarthy after Euro 2020, is a big fan as well.

Bolger is said to have a good chance of playing regular for the Ireland Under-21s over the next year or so, after reaching the quarter-finals of the Under-17 European Championships last year — lining up alongside Tottenham Hotspur wonderkid Troy Parrott and Manchester United's Lee O'Connor.

Former Bluebirds midfielder Stephen McPhail is the Sporting Director at Shamrock Rovers, "so I'd imagine his links to Cardiff have something to do with it", adds Paul.

Why is he allowed to move on loan to Cardiff after the deadline?

Football League rules allow the transfer of players who are not registered to play in the Premier League after the deadline.

Cardiff submitted their official 25-man squad to play in the Premier League on February 1. Bolger therefore was signed just for the Under-23 and Under-18s or 19s sides.

So a loan is allowed in a case where the player is an 'Out of Registration Player', which means if the player was last registered as a scholar or academy Player — which Bolger was at Shamrock Rovers.

The Irish club were paying for Bolger to undergo schooling at Ashfield College in Dublin, with the midfielder and two other youngsters training with the club in the morning and completing studies in the afternoon.

What have people said about him?

As Paul said, Shamrock Rovers boss Bradley is a big fan, waxing lyrical about Bolger after a recent match, as well as calling him "a nasty little f****r!"

"He can do a bit of everything," said Bradley.

“He can tackle, he can play, he just needs to add goals to his game and he would be very close to a complete midfielder.

“He just doesn’t care, Aaron. He doesn’t see the players he’s playing against, he doesn’t see any of their players and think ‘oh’.

“And that sort of don’t care attitude will drive his career. Every level he goes up, he’ll respond to it.”