Sorry it`s been a bit quiet over the last couple of days on the site but I`ve been busy at work as well as the football side of things being a little slow as well.
I still can`t quite believe that last Monday actually happened. I keep thinking back to my time at Wembley Stadium and the sea of yellow and green, the noise and spectacle of it all, it still seems like a dream. However, it wasn`t a dream and Norwich City are back in the big time.
At the moment though, most players and staff are away on holiday and if you follow Nathan Redmond on twitter, you`ll see that he went straight off to Dubai last Tuesday for a quick break ahead of joining up with England for the U21 Euro Championships – looks lovely, Redderz!
News over the last couple of days in terms of the Canaries, has really only concerned the potential return to Carrow Road of Ricky van Wolfswinkel, the release of six out of contract players and various stories praising Alex Neil’s impact at Carrow Road.
Unsubstantiated reports from France suggest that Saint Etienne are not interested in signing RvW on a permanent basis. If true, it does seem as though he doesn`t have a future at Norwich. As I wrote last week, I have it on very good authority that Ricky isn`t part of next season`s plans and that the club will try to move him on. Having said that of course, if no buyer can be found then we might be stuck with him – hopefully though his stock will still be high enough in Europe to get him off the wage bill.
Many have voiced that they hope he comes back to Norwich. I just don`t think he is the type of striker who can play as a lone striker in Alex Neil`s type of system. He is more like Gary Hooper but from what I`ve seen, just not as effective.
Javier Garrido was linked with Brighton after his release last week and Elliot Bennett is also linked with the Seagulls – the Chris Hughton link being an obvious one.
There has also been much talk about Luciano Becchio in Leeds quarters and on their fan sites. Luciano scored 86 goals for Leeds in 221 appearances before forcing a move to then Premier League Norwich. During his time at Norwich he failed to score a single competitive goal, although whether he was ever given much of a chance is a moot point.
Despite Leeds fans` wishes though, it seems that Karl Robinson`s newly promoted, MK DONS are being widely tipped as his next destination. It looks as though there could be a good Championship player somewhere inside Luciano but whether he can recapture the glory days is the big question.
I suspect that it`ll be a little quiet on the Norwich transfer front for a week or so yet until everyone gets back from holiday. In the meantime, our newly promoted rivals Watford and Bournemouth are making some moves.
Bournemouth have signed Artur Boruc and Adam Federici with striker, Josh King joining from Blackburn. They have also signed Christian Atsu on a season long loan from Chelsea – that could be a very good loan signing.
Watford meanwhile are being heavily linked to another Blackburn striker in Rudy Gestede for a rumoured £5m. If Gestede is worth £5m (I think I`m right in saying that he scored 15 odd goals) then it seems that Norwich will need to pay a lot more than that if they want a real Premiership quality striker. Jerome scored 21 and cost £2m while Grabban cost £3m with 12 goals this term and over 20 last season in the Championship.
Looks like there would be better value abroad, although our last foray into the European leagues didn`t work out too well, did it!?
OTBC
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