Lewis Grabban became Neil Adams’ first signing as the new Norwich manager, joining from fellow Championship rivals Bournemouth for a fee believed to be £3m. The English striker netted thirty-five times in eighty-seven games for the Cherries during his two years at the club and is looking to make the same impact at Norwich.
Last year, Grabban enjoyed his most prolific season yet with twenty-two goals in Bournemouth’s first season back in the Championship and, at twenty-six years old, looks to be hitting his peak. Grabban began his career at Crystal Palace, being named Academy Scholar of the Year in May 2006 whilst also making two appearances in the League Cup. Then, Grabban experienced a relatively unsuccessful loan spell at Oldham where he failed to score in nine appearances in League One.
His first professional goal came against West Brom, in a 3-2 victory on 14th March 2007. The next season, Grabban had been shipped out to Scottish side Motherwell, but only made five appearances in four months before joining Millwall for a fee of £150,000 in January 2008. He then spent a total of four years contracted at the Lion’s Den, which encompassed two separate loan moves to Brentford. With a combined total of twelve goals in sixty-nine appearances over the four years, the twenty-two year old joined Brentford permanently in 2011 on a free transfer on a six-month contract. Over his three spells at Griffin Park, Grabban managed seven goals in thirty-two appearances. When his contract expired he joined League Two side Rotherham, only staying for one year before joining Bournemouth for a fee of £300,000. During his time at Rotherham, he was a regular starter for just the second time in his career and flourished as a result, bagging eighteen goals in fourty-three games. He continued this fine form at Bournemouth and subsequently won the admiration of Neil Adams, who snapped him up.
Usually deployed as an out-and-out striker (as he was against OGC Nice), Adams experimented by using Grabban as a right winger in the game against Celta Vigo and – with two goals to his name – it appears to have been successful. He drifted inside and played as a second striker at times, allowing Steven Whittaker to bomb forwards down the wing. Both of Grabban’s goals came from central positions, but it did leave a lot of space which was exploited by Celta, especially with Whittaker’s defensive frailties.
He’s not massively pacey but uses intelligent movement and forward runs to create chances, anticipating the period of play and using it to his benefit. For example, anticipating the through-ball from Olsson (with Lafferty in an offside position, who dummied it) and racing on to it before coolly slotting past the keeper, and his second goal in which some great play from Hoolahan left Grabban with a tap-in – but he had to be in that position to score.
Overall, the new man looks promising – he’s not the finished article, of course, but with some training on his defensive responsibilities if he is to be used as a winger he can become a worthy replacement for either of the out-going Ricky van Wolfswinkel or the already departed Robert Snodgrass.
