It’s been an interesting day in the world of Norwich City.
I awoke this morning to discover news of a Norwich bid for Motherwell’s David Turnbull with the Canaries stepping in and looking likely to relieve Glasgow Celtic of arguably THE most promising young player in Scottish football.
Motherwell accept £3.25m offer from Norwich City for David Turnbull.https://t.co/JmtFOXJWaV pic.twitter.com/vHGcMz55gT
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) June 18, 2019
Turnbull had been in negotiations with Celtic for some time now, after a £3m fee was agreed between the two clubs, but he clearly didn’t get the financial package that he and his agent were looking for, so Celtic ended their interest.
I’ve read speculative snippets of information on this subject with several suggesting that the lad was earning “only” £1,000 per week at Motherwell and that Celtic had offered him £10,000 pw and ended up by offering him £12,000 pw.
Another snippet suggested that the player and his agent were holding out for £20k pw, which seems a little steep considering that he has only one breakthrough season at Motherwell under his belt. That season did go pretty well though, with 16 goals scored in 34 appearances.
https://twitter.com/iwritethings23/status/1141081401468620801?s=21
He’s a lad that likes to hit a long range shot and he has some impressive shooting statistics, with 51% of his shots at goal being on target and he was also responsible for scoring 33% of Motherwell’s goals last season.
All 15 goals David Turnbull scored for Motherwell last season. pic.twitter.com/5p9kjjlgSl
— Celtic Soccer Show (@CelticSoccrShow) June 12, 2019
I’d be a little surprised if City were to pay him £20k pw at this point but all this talk of money is rather vulgar and complete speculation and conjecture. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter to a fan what he or anyone else is being paid, it’s all about whether or not they perform on the pitch.
Turnbull has been reported to have been heading to Norfolk today for talks, so we should know soon enough if he’s going to be a Canary or not.
In other news, Newcastle have been linked with young Norwich goalkeeper, Jon McCracken as reported her by various media outlets in the North East.
The U19 Scotland international was signed from Hamilton in 2016 by former City and Accies’ boss, Alex Neil and has been a regular with the Canaries’ U23 squad. He also trained with the first team last season.
This is slightly difficult to predict as McCracken has shown some decent form for the U23s and he’s also good with his feet, which is becoming more and more of a positive attribute for a keeper to have in the modern game.
The EDP’s Dave Freezer has an interesting take on it too – I hope he’s right.
Jon's kicking ability makes him a real prospect for #NCFC and I thought there were some real signs of his all-round game improving last season, so I'm guessing this 'interest' may well have come from the lad's agent to coincide with contract talks.
— David Freezer (@davefreezer) June 19, 2019
The other big news of the day though concerns Manchester United’s now highly public search for a new right-back.
It is being reported in most places of the sports media world that having seen a £50m bid for Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka turned down that United are now turning to Max Aarons as another option.
Manchester United stepping up their pursuit of Norwich City right back Max Aarons. See him as alternative to Aaron Wan Bissaka. United have been in talks to sign Wan Bissaka but have not been able to agree deal with Crystal Palace yet. Aarons is EFL young player of the season
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) June 19, 2019
This is a report that will send a shiver through the Canary Nation, as well as their Sporting Director. However, I can’t see us selling him this summer and I’ll tell you why.
Max Aarons is a superstar in the making. I say “in the making” because although he’s pretty good now, he needs a full season in the Premier League in order to really realise his potential, just as Wan-Bissaka did last season.
Having had a great season for Palace, Wan-Bissaka is now apparently worth £50m+ and if Max, Ben Godfrey and Jamal Lewis all have similar breakthrough seasons then we will have a large fortune on our hands for each of them.
Particularly with Aarons and Godfrey being English. Imagine what Godfrey, a ball playing, goal scoring centre back with pace could be worth, should he realise his huge potential.
I have it on good authority that City rejected a £15m bid from Spurs last January for Aarons and I’d be surprised if United would be prepared to pay what Norwich would value him at, without having seen him play at the highest level regularly.
I can also imagine that Stuart Webber will have said to these lads words along the lines of “Listen, we gave you your chance, your opportunity and now you’re a Premier League player. Stay with us for at least this season and prove yourself at Norwich. If you do that, big moves and big money will follow.”
I firmly believe that this is the message that these young lads will be given and judging by their willingness to sign contract extensions, they will know that staying at Norwich and playing regular top flight football is the way to develop, rather than to warm the bench at a top six club.
Playing is and should be all that matters, the rest will take care of itself.
Worth mentioning, Norwich will resist any attempts to prise Max Aarons away from Carrow Road this summer. No enquiries and not for sale. Short piece on the wire shortly. #ncfc #mufc #cpfc
— Nick Mashiter (@nickmashiter) June 19, 2019
OTBC