Interview with Marcelino: https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/marcelino-nunez-i-cant-wait-to-get-started
Can I get carried away about Nunez now? Or should I actually wait to see him play a few games in the yellow and green?
Having just listened to a long podcast with a commentator who knows both Sara and Núñez well, he thinks Sara is likely to settle more quickly. He has the physical strength for the Championship and being a year older, more experience as well. His game is playing or passing the ball from midfield up to the attacking players and attacking himself or creating overloads. Núñez is more of a box to box player, picking up the ball in defence and progressing it up to more advanced players. He'll depend on his skills to beat opposing players and get the ball forward quickly. He and Sara could well make an effective pairing.
Let's hope he and Sara both work out well. God knows, the club needs something to lift it from somewhere.
Time will tell, but the biggest thing they face is the pace and physicality of English football compared with that they're familiar with. In their favour though is that they've have had to make their way in life from very humble backgrounds. Like Buendia, they've had to develop ways of coping to succeed and that's an edge that most other players don't have. What they'll bring on the pitch is the kind of creativity and incisive, instinctual passing that we've lacked since Emi left and, hopefully, the beneficiaries will be Pukki and the other forwards. Considering that Núñez has cost no more than we got from the sale of PLM, it seems to be very good business indeed. In Núñez's own words: “What do I see myself as? Well, I like to get into the box, I like to go for goal. I like to play in set-plays and be involved in and outside of the box. Now I’m here at Norwich, I have my objectives and I want to achieve everything that I can with the club.” And for Smith it's this: “We’re really pleased to have Marcelino in. He’s a player that we believe can connect us from back to front. He can see a pass and open things up. He also scored some wonderful goals out in South America. His all-round game is one that we feel is going to suit us and what we’ve needed."
Thanks Suffolk. I believe that was the last official update. Rumours of interest in other DMs make me nervous! I believe Hayden will make a huge difference, especially his experience and the on-field leadership he will provide.
It's great that you pin all your hope and expectations on a guy that's never played for us and a bit part player for Newcastle that looked relegated before their big cash injection.
I don't think Gozo is pinning all his hopes on Hayden, but I share his belief that his experience and leadership could prove to be a big factor in improving our midfield coordination, much like Hanley's does for the defence. My nephews support Newcastle and have nothing but praise for Hayden. It's the cash injection that made the loan deal with us possible and I'm glad about that, but I'm also thinking that Sara and Núñez can also have a big effect on our midfield.
I know I have my contrarian moments, but have I upset you guys? A statement is wrongly attributed to me, and then I become Gozzo. What's next, Gonzo?
And it's tiresome that you keep up your impersonation of Don Quixote, substituting East Anglian straw men for Spanish windmills.
Thank you Rick. I too think that Sara and Núñez can have a big effect. People complain that Dean Smith doesn't know what he's doing; these three signings indicate the opposite, he knows exactly what he is doing. We have people saying that any donkey could see we needed a DM; but Hayden isn't simply "a DM", he's a DM with attributes that will both improve the team by providing experience and leadership while at the same time facilitating the style of play Smith is in process of implementing.
