City are ready to pay a club record £550,000 fee for the 21-year-Lincoln striker - but only if he pledges his international allegiance to England.

“We have agreed terms with Lincoln and a financial package with the player,” said Hammam, City’s owner. “But we have a serious double-edged moral problem.

“Gavin is eligible to play for Jamaica or England but if he chooses Jamaica the deal will fall through.”

Hammam has refused to put City in a similar situation to Wrexham and Swansea City who can lose key play-ers to international commitments.

Wrexham forwards Hector Sam and Carlos Edwards are always liable to be called up by Trinidad and Tobago, while Swansea could lose the services of Jamaica striker Walter Boyd and Venezuelan international Giovanni Savarese.

“This is a situation we cannot and will not entertain,” said Hammam.

“I will never sign anyone who can play for a country outside Europe because I had a very bad experience with such a player - Marcus Gayle at Wimbledon.

“Fifa. in their infinite wisdom, or lack of wisdom, have ruled that a country has first call on a player.

“That’s all right if it’s a national team in Europe where there are designated international dates.

“But players can disappear for a month or longer to represent countries in , say, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Far East and the West Indies.

“Gavin Gordon is a raw talent on which we are willing to take a risk. But we are not going to buy a player we could end up losing to Jamaica for 14 or 15 matches which is one third of the season.

“I know a lot of other clubs who won’t buy internationals with countries outside Europe for that reason.

“It simply doesn’t make sense. The best example is Kanu, one of the world’s top forwards. Arsenal had just about had enough before it was agreed he would play for Nigeria only in competitive internationals.

“ I’ve spoken to Gavin twice personally and to his representative to explain our position.

“It’s a difficult situation. Do I have the moral right to tell him he must forfeit the chance to represent Jamaica if he wants to play for Cardiff?

“On the other hand, does he have the right to say, ‘If you sign me, you’ll also have to buy a replacement while I’m on duty for Jamaica.?’”

Last night the indications were that Gordon, who has scored 11 goals for Lincoln - eight in the last 10 matches - was ready to agree to City’s ultimatum. and take his chance on being selected by England.

City will insist on a clause in Gordon’s contract that he cannot play for Jamaica, with the agreement of Fifa and other bodies including the Professional Footballers’ Association.

But if the deal falls through, Hammam will sign another big striker.

“We are not going to allow the present situation to continue - where we have only one fit target man - Leo Fortune-West,” he said.

“We have made a massive commitment to Cardiff and to Wales. But with Kevin Nugent unfit we will be up the creek if Leo gets injured, suspended or loses form.

“I can’t tell you where this club would be, or would not be, without Leo. We owe him a lot.

“Gordon was our first choice as another target man, but if we don’t sign him I’ll pursue other options.”

Hammam believes City need three or four more signings to complete “my initial drive.”

One of them will be a ’keeper, possibly Dundee’s Scotland Under-21 star Jamie Langfield

“Do people realise that for the past few weeks we’ve had 11 players on the casualty list - Hallworth, Thompson, Jones, Perrett, Eckhardt, Jordan, Brazier, Fowler, Boland, Nugent and Legg?” asked Hammam.