- Ben Knapper flipped Norwich’s transfer strategy around when he joined the club.
- The Canaries need to develop players to sell on and make a profit to survive.
- Knapper hit the jackpot with one of his bargain signings at Carrow Road.
Ben Knapper is set to enter his first Norwich City transfer window that requires almost nothing but proven quality to come through the door.
Previous windows under the English sporting director have been about mapping the future and signing young players with potential.
The Canaries had to lean heavily down that way of recruiting after Knapper’s appointment because of Stuart Webber and David Wagner’s decision to go down the experienced route in 2023.
Why Norwich needed to change their strategy
Loading up on experienced players in an attempt to push for promotion is a solid idea, in theory, but it very rarely works at Championship level.
When you look at the teams who get promoted each year, they are not stacked with ten or more EFL veterans between the ages of 29 and 37.
Instead, they are the ones with the best technical players, the most progressive head coaches, and have experience sprinkled in to supplement the younger stars.
Norwich went too far down the experienced road under Wagner and Knapper had to course correct in the summer of 2024, appointing Johannes Hoff Thorup and signing eight players aged 23 or under.
That meant that the 2024/25 campaign ended up being a ‘transition season’, as much as no one likes to read that term, because they completely flipped the age profile of the squad.
The Canaries, now under Philippe Clement, are slowly seeing the benefits of that change in approach because some of the club’s young signings are starting to flourish.
Norwich landed a Danish bargain
In the summer of 2024, one of the signings brought in by Thorup and Knapper was 18-year-old attacking midfielder Oscar Schwartau for a reported fee of £2m.
The teenage whiz was valued at £1m by Transfermarkt at the time of his move, having scored six goals in 46 games for Brondby’s first-team.
Despite only turning 18 that summer, Thorup trusted him in the heat of the physical Championship battle, playing him in 40 of the club’s 46 league games.
Schwartau was still finding his feet at senior level in England at that point, though, and only produced one goal from 3.28 xG and zero assists from three ‘big chances’ created.
That first season was incredibly valuable experience for the Denmark U21 international, though, and it helped him to kick on this term.
Norwich have hit the jackpot on Oscar Schwartau
Schwartau was one of the few players who came away from the Liam Manning era with any credit, as he put in some impressive displays as the left-sided number ten, most notably scoring at Portman Road.
It was under Clement, however, when the Dane really hit his stride in a Norwich shirt and started to show some consistency in his play.
The 20-year-old star, who can play on either flank or as a number ten, ended the Championship season with four goals from 3.81 xG and two assists from nine ‘big chances’ created.
Schwartau only registered two assists from 3.19 xA in the league, which suggests that he was let down by poor finishing from his teammates at times.
His performances did not go unnoticed, though, despite not being rewarded with enough assists, as he won the Etty Smith Young Player of the Season award for the 2025/25 campaign.
His Transfermarkt value has soared as a result of his impressive progression in Norfolk, as it currently stands at £4.3m. That is a 330% increase on the £1m that he was valued at upon joining the club.
Knapper, therefore, hit the jackpot with Schwartau because he brought him in as an 18-year-old with no experience in English football and the youngster now looks primed for a big season next year under Clement.
Hopefully, his value will continue to soar and he will play a key role in Norwich finally returning to the Premier League.
