You would be forgiven for thinking Norwich City do not operate with the same rules for the January transfer window as everyone else.
Rarely do they buy. Rarely do they sell. Rarely do they bother at all. When they do, like in January 2020, they found the impact of an able loan player in Ondrej Duda was hampered by a global pandemic.
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Here we are again. Norwich spent a lot of money during the summer and have a big squad for their latest Premier League endeavour. Yet you won’t find many who want to ignore the possibility of January business.
In our latest Norwich City mailbag, we asked for your questions on the month ahead and how the club — predominantly sporting director, Stuart Webber — should deal with it…
We seem to miss the required creativity this season. None of the new signings has the attribute set of Emi Buendia, exacerbated by multiple Todd Cantwell issues. It’s a tricky position to fill mid-season (see Duda) — Roy W.
The real problem with January is how it is often seen as a chance to correct what was done the previous summer.
If everything is going well, you can maybe strengthen your hand but from the recent experiences at Norwich, there has been greater faith in the current group completing the job than requiring more help. Maybe that situation is easier at the top of the Championship.
Webber wanted a handful of players to fill the gap left by Buendia, whose exit they always knew was a distinct possibility. Their scoring record this season is so bad it is frightening.
Seeing Buendia win the ball high up the pitch against Norwich struck me. It is something I felt Norwich could not replace. He was one of the best ball-winners they had for three seasons.
I feel that chance-creation is something Dean Smith can improve with work and time. It’s taking more of those chances that he will find a much more limiting factor.
Do you think we could see the potential sale of Max Aarons or Todd Cantwell to fund transfer business this January? In particular Max. We have Brandon Williams, Sam Byram and Bali Mumba available to come in there if we were to sell — Alex P.
That’s a hypothetical one regarding Cantwell for me, right now. Norwich will take up their option with him for another year come the summer, so he is effectively contracted until June 2023. On current form, it is hard to see anyone of note is coming in to force Norwich into making a decision on whether to sell him. That said, if the call did come next month, then you suspect they could be tempted to cash in and put that money to use improving forward areas.
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I have seen Aarons picking up a bit of criticism recently and there were goal-costing errors in the home defeats to Manchester United and Aston Villa, but I still see him as one of Norwich’s most reliable players at this level. He is also the one likely to attract the most transfer speculation in the coming window.
As for the cover already in place, it was great to see Sam Byram back against Aston Villa. However, we are a fair way off knowing he will stay fit for five months and whether Bali Mumba is ready for Premier League football is still a guesstimate.
If Aarons was sold, Brandon Williams would be a natural fit in his recognised position but I would feel Norwich would also need the purchase or loan (from abroad) of a replacement. That then already reduces your funds available for January transfer business.
For the record, Norwich have one of their five loan spaces still available in their current squad with Billy Gilmour (Chelsea), Williams (Manchester United), Mathias Normann (Rostov) and Ozan Kabak (Schalke) at the club for the rest of this season.
I understand the calls for a striker, but we need a midfielder more. Not an out-and-out defensive midfielder but one who can chip in with goals. Not expecting much to happen but fairly annoying we spent nearly £20 million on Christos Tzolis and Josh Sargent, who are not ready for now. Is it possible to think about the long term too much? — Jamie A.
You make an excellent point there, Jamie. The realities of Norwich’s summer struck me a few weeks into the season. Spending a lot of money on players still a fair way short of Premier League level but with (Norwich hope) the potential to get there is a noble quest.
It also comes with a significant degree of difficulty when you are carrying a high chance of relegation after one season.
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Sargent and Tzolis came in to help fill that Buendia-sized hole mentioned earlier. It is a real shame we haven’t seen enough of Milot Rashica and Normann, too, but the likes of Gilmour and Pierre Lees-Melou also needed to be signings capable of adding to the team’s goals tally.
On the evidence so far, you would get long odds on them influencing Norwich’s scoring charts this season.
If we are going to give survival a serious go, it is essential to get one striker either on loan from abroad or purchase a proven striker from the Championship or squad player from a top-half Premier League club. I’m sure this could be funded by the sale or loaning out of three fringe players. Adam Idah would benefit from a good run of Championship games. What chance of this happening, Michael? — Gary A.
I agree with you regarding Adam. It feels like last season’s infrequent football has left his development short of where it should be since he last played in the top flight in 2020.
Norwich have got 18 professional players out on loan at the moment. If any had been worth a bid from another club, I imagine Norwich would have sold them already. None of them are set to be recalled by the club next month.
There are one or two agreements for sales in place come the end of the season should things go well, but obviously, that does not help out Norwich this season.
Norwich will need to sell a player to fund any January spending and it is already the case that they will need to sell if they go down. They will also be aware that waiting another six months could mean some player valuations may be lower.
I saw that Chelsea may recall Billy Gilmour due to their midfielder injury crisis. Could this be a possibility? – Will G.
No, Will. As my colleagues reported earlier this month, Gilmour has now made enough appearances before January to cancel Chelsea’s possible break clause for the loan agreement in the new year.
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Both Gilmour and Williams are set to spend the rest of this season at Norwich. Scenarios where either loan could be cut short to free-up a loan place for another position are unlikely to play out.
It is worth bearing in mind that Smith clearly loves Gilmour. He was excited about getting the chance to work with him when he joined Norwich and he has repeatedly spoken in glowing terms about the Scotland midfielder since.
A striker who can hold the ball up and is a goal threat in the air has to be the priority (a better version of Jordan Hugill would be nice). I wouldn’t mind signing some players from the EFL like the Anthony Pilkington and Elliott Bennett deals — Charlie B.
Not only were Pilkington and Bennett signed from the EFL, they were signed off the back of the 2010-11 League One season, going straight into the Premier League.
Norwich’s recruitment under Paul Lambert may not have had headline successes as big as Teemu Pukki, Buendia or Tim Krul, but it was so effective. Good enough for Premier League survival, too.
That further underlines how far short this summer’s work feels, albeit in a more challenging Premier League.
I would have been interested to see how the season panned out if we had pushed the boat out to get Philip Billing in the summer — Jourdan P.
If we get to May and Norwich have been relegated, their decisions to buy quite a few players worth up to £10 million rather than a smaller number but for £13-15 million and — by extension — of a better quality right now, will have to come in for criticism.
Billing would have been available to Norwich for £15 million, from what I understand. He has been inconsistent in the past for Bournemouth but has shone this season.
We will never know if he would have been a difference-maker but it currently feels like Norwich were involved in a false economy last summer, and those repercussions may last longer than the January transfer window.
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)