I am suprised by this, I thought the club would have more patience with a player they signed for the future. He wasn’t bought to be a success last year but there we go, I guess as long as we get our money back it’s not so bad. Assume this is where the Sara money has come from
There was a hint from Dean Smith last night that the club are looking to loan Tzolis for the season rather than sell him outright. To paraphrase: "He needs more playing time than he's likely to get with Norwich. There's potential there to be developed. Hopefully he can get that on loan -- and come back full of confidence ......" Maybe wishful thinking on my part, but that's how I understood what DS was saying when interviewed post-Cambridge.
Just listened to a DS interview from the after the interview and he essentially confirmed that Tzolis is speaking to a club about a loan move. DS can’t promise him the minutes he needs for his development so he wants him to go out and build confidence and get regular game time. Felt last season stunted his development and hopes that he can come back better next season. Sounds good to me!
Confirmed in the EDP now: https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwi...-dean-smith-cambridge-united-reaction-9154856 I'm ok about this move as we're well stocked with attacking players. It's defenders leaving that concerns me.
If the club are genuinely now looking to get Tzolis a season-long loan with no option to buy for the loan club, that would represent quite a change of view from just a month ago (when The Athletic reported the interest from Bruges). The talk then was of accepting it had all been a mistake, and the aim being nothing more than recouping the initial outlay. For that reason I'm not inclined to take what DS said yesterday at face value. Plus there's the little matter of what the player thinks about it ........
After losing our last German player Zimmermann, this story came from left field. Ex-City star training with Shaolin monk as search for new club continues https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwich-city/canaries-ncfc-lukas-rupp-shaolin-monk-new-club-9157992
Michael Bailey reporting that Tzolis is joining Netherlands club FC Twente on a season-long loan. No option to make the deal permanent.
Lovely leaving interview with Christoph: https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/christoph-zimmermanns-final-interview-in-full All the best for the future for you and your family Christoph!
Not quite finalised yet but getting close: https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwi...r-news-rumours-christos-tzolis-twente-9159082
If this turns out to be the case, I'm happy, too. We haven't burned our bridges with him as long as there is no option to buy.
I think the key phrase is "the talk was...". You take Bailey's 'talk' reporting much more seriously than I do. I suspect this is based mainly on the opinions of Archant journos. Connor Southwell was engaging in this kind of speculation during his match commentary on Tuesday, but at least he recognised it as his opinion. Bailey seldom does that. Instead he takes the common ITK route of 'the talk is..." to distance himself from it. It's just possible that the "change in view" has occurred in Bailey rather than in Smith, but the truth is we'll probably never know.
Pure speculation on my part, but I suspect the change has happened in Webber. My guess is that Brugge were not prepared to loan Tzolis without a right to buy and/or would not agree to our evaluation. Webber had the alternative offer from Twente and chose to take that instead. As I said, I'm just speculating, especially since we don't know for a fact yet that the loan to Twente is happening and what the conditions of that loan might be.
All of those are possible, but we'll probably never know. My guess is that Brugge may well have wanted a loan with an option to buy which is common these days. There were only rumours about Brugge wanting to pay and us being prepared to sell so again we'll never know. It could also be that Smith wanted to look at Cantwell, Sinani and Hernandez before making a commitment on Christos. It'll be interesting to see what he says over there if the deal goes through.
Actually Rick, it was me, not MB, using that phrase. And the article was based on what he said he'd been told by inside-the-club sources, not the opinions of the Archant lot. I don't think, in his position, he would say that if it weren't true.
