Rumour has it Tino Anjorin young lad from Chelsea on loan. Other Championship clubs also interested. Are Chelsea likely to want to send out another youngster to us after the Gilmour fiasco?
Why loan a young player to take the place of our own young player. It is counter productive. I sincerely hope some person in control understands this basic fact.
Thanks Walsh. This sounds a bit harsh but in this case it's hard to care much either way. I guess it means we're going to bring another midfielder in, possibly the loan from Chelsea?
EDP article simultaneously says Norwich are well-stocked for central midfield options and are looking to thin the squad, and also that the club are looking for a replacement. Some hedging of bets there I think! Not disappointed to see him leave, just hope the financial hit we've taken isn't too painful. The deal made sense last summer, he just wasn't a good fit/didn't perform to the expected level. If we make a permanent addition, I guess the aim is someone who can be an upgrade/competition for McLean? If we're playing 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, it sounds like the aim is for those central midfielders to be a DM (Hayden/Sorensen), a rounded midfielder (McLean) then a box-to-box/attacking player (Sara/Cantwell/Dowell). McLean is really only good enough to be a squad player in the Prem not first choice, so it would be good to sign someone who can compete with him this season and maybe surpass him next season. Given finances, I could see a loan-to-buy making sense, or just a straight loan to fill the gap and offer competition this season.
So we have lost 3 CMs (Normann, Gilmour and looking like PLM), and signed 1 (2 if you count Sara- but i see him as more attacking). Hopefully, we can get at least 1 more in. Kenny we know, can play at this level, Hayden too when he is fit, but im yet to be fully convinced by Sorensen (in the middle). His best games have been when he has covered out of position. When in the middle, he has looked distinctly average.
We have also lost Rupp in CM, which means with PLM leaving we've lost 3 CMs and signed one and replaced Normann with Hayden at DM. I'm not at all convinced by the idea that Cantwell and Dowell can be redeployed as box to box CMs. Gibbs is another possibility, but he may well go out on loan. With PLM leaving and unless we recruit any replacements, we now have a squad of 21 senior players and 6 U21s from which to field 11 starters and 7 subs each game. I fail to see why this is being described as an oversize squad. My expectations for this season are declining day by day as more players leave.
If accurate, that's not a bad outcome. £3.5m + wages should give us options in terms of a replacement. Seems like PLM didn't want to be a Championship player, so best to move on. I don't think he'd have been first choice this season anyway.
Yes, not a bad deal if we get a suitable replacement. At 29, a new 3 year contract will secure his future. I had high hopes when he arrived, especially considering Saint-Maximin's comments on what a good signing he was, but he never seemed to get out of second gear.
I hope that's true about no purchase option. Personally I still have high hopes for him, although I think he'll end up more of what used to be an inside forward or second striker than a winger.
Aarons is in the rumours again: https://the72.co.uk/2022/07/22/trio-of-european-sides-make-approaches-for-norwich-city-star/
With Zimmermann gone do we have enough cover at CB? Or is there another youngster coming through we don't know about? Same with CM
I imagine Tomkinson will become 4th choice, he started the last friendly against Cambridge and played the full 90 minutes
CM I think we may need another body but we have Liam Gibbs coming through - he has impressed in pre-season as a front footed CM and looks to have done a lot of growing up in the last year
Gibbs is still only 19 with little senior experience. Like Tomkinson he can provide another option but midfield is a rough place in the Championship. Given that we may well be playing a 3 man midfield, we need more than Gibbs backing up Sara and McLean in a 46 match season.
