There are two stories that are doing the rounds this morning, the first of which has been rumbling on all weekend and it concerns Wes Hoolahan.
Wes was the subject of a reported bid from Aston Villa on Friday and over the weekend, Paul Lambert has been talking about his desire to recruit a creative experienced player who can make things happen. Sounds like our Wes, eh?!
When asked directly about Wessi by his local press, Lambert was, as you’d expect, a bit evasive.
“It`s not fair to talk about other team`s players,” he said. “I don`t think that`s right. He`s a Norwich player and like any player we go for, I don`t think it`s right to comment.”
He then proceeded to talk about the type of player he wants. Apparently, he calls them ‘number 10s’ – we all know who you’re talking about, Paul.
So, will we sell to Villa and Lambert? I would be amazed if we did. The figure quoted of £1.5m is derisory and I don’t think it’s any secret that Lambert isn’t exactly thought of fondly by our board. Mick Dennis tweeted his thoughts along the same lines over the weekend.
If Wes went to Villa and played a blinder, kept them up and we were relegated, then there would be hell to pay from the fans and whoever agrees to that deal, McNally, Hughton etc should get their coat immediately.
Bearing all that in mind, I just can’t see it happening. Would he be sold if someone else came knocking? Maybe, but not to Villa and Paul Lambert.
So, what else is there? Well, the other story doing the rounds yesterday and this morning is again with The Daily Mail, who reckon that City are about to move for Everton’s Dutch defender, Johnny Heitinga.
If you follow us at Vital Norwich, you’ll know that Heitinga has been spoken of during the last week here and all the detail on the player is in some earlier articles.
Heitinga snubbed West Ham last week, saying that the opportunity at Upton Park just didn’t feel right – after seeing what happened to The Hammers against Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday I bet he isn’t having any doubts.
To my mind, we need a central defender and couldn’t get the man we wanted in the summer with Toby Alderweireld moving to Atletico Madrid instead of City. That was an ambitious move and one that almost paid off with Ajax accepting City’s offer but the player opted to move to Spain instead.
Michael Turner is now out for ‘a few weeks’ with a hamstring strain, leaving us with just Seb Bassong and Ryan Bennett as central defenders. Russell Martin can fill in there, very well, but it seems likely another centre back is on Hughton’s shopping list.
Heitinga is a very seasoned international with over 80 appearances for the Dutch national team but hasn’t featured under Martinez this term at Everton.
He’s keen to move and wants to be on the plane to Brazil in the summer, if he doesn’t play then he won’t go to Rio – simple.
He’s likely to be fairly cheap too, could be a good move.
More throughout the window as the stories develop.
OTBC
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