McNally reveals reason behind failed transfers
Norwich City chief executive David McNally has revealed why the club failed to sign a number of players, one possibly being Inter Milan’s central defender Andrea Ranocchia or Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly in the two transfer windows this year.
Ranocchia was one of a number of players very close to joining Norwich, but McNally told The Little Yellow Bird Project that the player’s club’s failure to sign a replacement was a major stumbling block in the move, and led to the eventual collapse of any potential deal for an ‘Italian defender’
Whilst we signed seven, in the end there were two or three that kinda hit the post because of matters outside of our control.
I mean, there was a centre half from Italy that was coming here. He wanted to join us, we’d agreed the fee with his club, we’d agreed everything with the agent but the deal depended on them signing their replacement, and that didn’t happen.
The twenty-seven-year-old did end up leaving the San Siro in the January window, after all, joining fellow Serie A club Sampdoria on a loan deal till the end of the season. This wasn’t the last piece of business between the two clubs, with another of Norwich’s potential signings switching between Lombardia and the Genoese coast. Italian international striker Eder joined Inter on a two-year loan deal, which could be made permanent if certain conditions are fulfilled by the striker. Kalidou Koulibaly stayed at Napoli, where he is still fighting for a first team spot in the side.
McNally also confirmed that this situation happened on three occasions during the final week of the window, meaning Norwich could’ve had over 10 players joining them in January.