Just under £20million worth of three Norwich City players has been sold this January transfer window: Sergi Canos to Brentford, Robbie Brady to Burnley, and Martin Olsson to Swansea.
Meanwhile, first team players acquisition has taken the shape of £7million on an excitingly direct and pacey Dutch winger- Yanic Wildschut- and an impressive loan move for a herculean Dutch left-back from Ajax- Mitchell Dijks.
Alex Neil had made Norwich’s business plan clear prior to the window’s gates opening on the first of January; the Canaries would free up funds for new players only by selling first.
The fans’ reactions to Norwich’s subsequent Winter business has been mixed: especially the response to the record being broken on Deadline Day for Norwich’s most expensive player ever. The £13m procured for Robbie Brady from Burnley surpassed the £11m dished out by Southampton for Nathan Redmond in the Summer.
The following is how we rate Norwich’s business deals, player by player, during the 2016/17 January transfer window.
Martin Olsson: 3/10
Undoubtedly not the start to the window Norwich fans were hoping for; Martin Olsson’s £4m move to Premier League strugglers Swansea was Norwich’s worst business of the window.
Even if Olsson was desperate to leave Norwich, in the reality of football, £4m is meagre relative to the ability and quality of Olsson at left-back, who was arguably the Canaries’ best player.
Sergi Canos- 5/10
For a reason that has long perplexed Norwich faithful, quick fan favourite and youngster Sergi Canos joined from Liverpool for £2.5m in the Summer but only ever made the rare appearance, mostly in the EFL Trophy and Cup.
The Spaniard has now cut his ties and joined Brentford for the same £2.5m, which, although balancing out the joining fee, is still poor business considering he only arrived a few months ago and wasn’t given a chance.
His lack of game time has confused and exasperated Norwich fans this season, and there must have been a legitimate reason for Neil’s omission of Canos, so the Scotsman moved him on.
Robbie Brady- 9/10
Norwich’s new most expensive player ever having just been sold to Burnley for £13m. The Canaries got good money out of the Irishman, making a £6m profit after his £7m purchase from Hull.
Some would argue that Brady is still young and is a competent international player for Ireland, but Brady never got going at Norwich and has received his critics this season for the alarming number of Championship games in which he has not shown up in or demonstrated his true ability.
Getting £13m out of him was definitely good business from Norwich.
Mitchell Dijks- 8/10
The six-foot-four Dutch Dijks should be a superb acquisition for Norwich, providing he can adapt to Championship football quickly.
Surprisingly pacey, immensely strong, and freakishly tall for a full-back, Dijks, on loan from Ajax with a view to purchasing at the end of the season, is an exciting prospect in replacement of Martin Olsson.
He will also provide some much-needed stature in a notably small, in terms of height, Norwich lineup.
Yanic Wildschut- 8/10
The Dutchman has scored four goals and provided two assists this Championship season thus far, after helping Wigan to promotion as a constant counter-attacking threat last season.
Wildschut is a tricky dribbler and has bags of pace, but has not hit his peak yet in his career, with only thirteen goals in fifty-eight appearances in the last four years.
Hopefully Norwich, after splashing £7m on Yanic, can provide him with the home to show his quality on a regular basis as the Canaries kick on with the recent upturn in form and charge for promotion.