Another January day and yet more transfer speculation for Norwich City although on this occasion, it’s unwanted speculation, as far as the Canary Nation is concerned, regarding Todd Cantwell, Emi Buendia and Jamal Lewis.
There are numerous reports this morning linking Cantwell with a move to Manchester United, with the Manchester Evening News suggesting that both United and Manchester City are “keeping tabs” on the Dereham Deco.
Man City in Todd Cantwell race and more transfer rumours #mcfc https://t.co/AM0cCKBNTp
— Manchester City News (@ManCityMEN) January 3, 2020
Halfway through his first Premier League season, Cantwell currently sits on six goals, having so far scored against Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton, Arsenal, Wolves and most recently against Crystal Palace.
The traditional goal scoring target for a central midfielder is 10 goals and Cantwell is well on the way to meeting that mark. With City struggling at the bottom of the league, the performances of Todd and Emi Buendia have been a bright light in some otherwise dark times of late. Those performances have not gone unnoticed though.
Amongst the various speculation reports I note that a fee of £30m is being bandied about. If he gets those 10 goals though, I imagine you can add a bit more to that come the summer transfer window.
Two other players, this time being linked to Liverpool are Emi Buendia and Jamal Lewis. According to The Express Juergen Klopp is “keeping tabs” on the City duo with a view to a summer transfer.
Lately, Lewis has struggled for game time, with his place in the team being taken by right-footed Sam Byram, who played left back initially when Lewis suffered a slight knock but other than playing on December 28th against Spurs, when Byram was rested, he’s been kicking his heels for almost a month now.
Emi Buendia has become as sensational as he was in the Championship this time last year as he continues to tear up the Premier League in terms of his own personal contribution to the Canary cause.
Emi Buendía and James Maddison are the only two players in the Premier League this season with:
❐ 30+ tackles made
❐ 30+ chances created
❐ 30+ take-ons completedBuendía has 50+ of each. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/xjEeAk01uA
— Squawka (@Squawka) January 2, 2020
Everyone is raving about James Maddison this season and rightly so, the goal he scored with his weak foot against Newcastle on New Year’s Day was a terrific strike but as you can see from above, his stats, in general, are not ahead of Buendia. Having said that, Emi is yet to add a Premier League goal to his stats sheet.
Even so, though, Emi is seemingly adding millions to his perceived value with almost every tackle, nutmeg and take-on in every game that passes. What would he be worth in the summer, especially if he were to get a call up to the Argentinian national squad?
Naturally, Norwich City will not want to sell anyone but if relegation happens, and it looks fairly likely, then there will be offers from big clubs for some of our players. The likes of Cantwell, Buendia, Pukki, Lewis, Godfrey and Aarons, to name but a few, will all have multi-million-pound price tags thanks to the long-term deals that all of them are tied down to.
That was savvy business from Stuart Webber and the board because the reality is that there will be suitors for these players. I don’t expect that any will be sold in January unless a truly massive offer came in because without them there is simply no chance of staying in the Premier League.
There will come a time though when such players outgrow Norwich City and if offered the chance to move to a “big” club, especially one of the top four clubs in England then it will be nigh on impossible to keep them.
Enjoy this current squad while you can because they might not be around for a whole lot longer.
OTBC