Bethnal Yellow and Green

This is why we are lucky to have the PinkUn. They avoid all the silly transfer clickbait stuff and set out when a rumour isn’t true - they’d almost certainly get more traffic if they just spun along stories about players, even if they knew Norwich weren’t interested.

Bailey has said that Normann is one of several targets. I’d imagine they are all being worked on at the same time - whether Normann is top priority is a bit of an unknown, it is just the only one that has been leaked to the media. As the clock ticks towards deadline we will see clubs more likely to take on the ‘loan with an option’ deal as it becomes clear there isn’t anyone prepared to offer a permanent deal up front. If we suddenly see loads of rumours spring up, that is when we know Norwich are getting a bit desperate and ringing around every agent to see who is available. As for the Daily Mail… yeesh, only have to have listened to one of Farke’s last 5 or 6 interviews to know the exact positions Norwich are targeting.

Still a bit of time and all reports suggest Norwich are hard at work with a few targets. These things can change very quickly, but whether it is Norwich’s top choice or one lower down the list is unclear. No new players will be in place for the Leicester game, but I think that isn’t a huge surprise. By stating that Norwich definitely need a couple of players and the exact positions he wants them, Farke is certainly putting some pressure on Webber to get it done. I’m not sure Farke would be quite so open about it if he was the one in charge of getting those players through the door - you’d probably hear comments more along the lines of ‘good to get someone in to help the group’ etc.

Norwich are definitely still chasing a couple of signings - but worth remembering that Farke isn't in charge of transfers and many of his comments are to put pressure on Webber to get the players in.

Save his wages - he'll be one of the highest paid after coming in from a Premier League club and will have got an increase when Norwich were promoted. Club will also get a loan fee and if he goes on to score 15 goals for WBA then his value will increase. With the lack of money in the Championship I doubt there is anyone who would actually want to take him on permanently at the moment.

When you are in Norwich's situation you have to accept that most of the players are only coming here due to Premier League football and to put themselves on that stage. As Norwich are one of the favourites for relegation it means they will always want to know what that means for them. The last thing a player wants is to come to a club that gets relegated and then makes it difficult for the player to leave if there is top flight interest in them. I'm sure that Rashica, Sargent, Tzolis etc have all had that conversation with Norwich as Normann will want to - you can see why he would see a loan that ends if the club is relegated is better than being tied to a relegated club.

Main anchor doesn't need to be physical, it is mainly about knowing how to be in the right place at the right time. I don't think many would describe Skipp as a 'physical' player, but he developed to ability to know where to be and when to be there - he wasn't great at this when he first got to Norwich - Farke even mentioned this a couple of times but he soon learnt it. I think even after Norwich sign a midfielder we will continue to see Gilmour deployed as the deepest of the three and will have two of PLM, Mclean and the new guy either side to do the donkey work. Gilmour does need to work on his positioning and knowing when to stay deep and when to move forward though but that will come. There are many types of defensive midfielder, Gilmour suits the role as it is the perfect place for someone with his excellent passing to build attacks or maintain possession. Can already see from the early games that Farke is looking at more wing play this year and big switches of the ball from one side to the other will be a big part of this - Gilmour already has one of the highest rates of switch passes in the league - which is impressive consider Norwich saw very little of the ball against Man C.

No more big outgoings seem at all likely. Midfielder and defender will come in and some fringe players likely to leave - Hernandez and Placheta both possible players to go to Champ clubs on loan.

He is desperate to move and doesn't have many options right now. Think he is just worried about a drop to the Championship should Norwich be relegated, but I would imagine some reassurances from Webber that he wouldn't be refused a move should it happen. Whether Norwich can resolve the issues with Rostov is probably the biggest issue. I guess they could offer a permanent move, but tie a lot of the fee on survival and performance related stuff.

Cardiff claim they offered him tickets for a commercial flight, but Sala choose to take the private plane. There is going to be a court case about it in a month or so - the details will come out then I guess.

There are a lot of players who can play in their positions in the squad now, and Farke has moved to a system with one less attacking midfielder. They are probably not going to get minutes, even in cup games, so best for Norwich to move them along (whether on loan or permanently) to free up their wages and hopefully get a fee. Can't sign a whole bunch of players without pushing some others out of the door (especially two players who got limited minutes last season in the Championship).

Not really anything new, but Michael Bailey in his piece today has said that Normann is an active target which Norwich are working on, but he isn’t the only target. He also seems to back up other reports that it is a difficult deal to get done.

Seems like 2 out of Cantwell, Rashica, Dowell and Tzolis if Farke sticks with the 4-3-3 (which I think he will for a while). Will be a fascinating battle for spots, but Tzolis and Rashica together might lack a little bit of nauce that Cantwell and Dowell provide. Harsh to say Placheta has nothing but pace in my view. He isn't completely hopeless and is young enough to improve - a Championship loan and 30+ games would really let us know how his trajectory is looking. Hernandez has peaked and now seems the most logical time to part ways.

Had Placheta not be suffering with COVID he may have made the bench last night, hard to know. I do think both of them need a loan, in Hernandez's case a permanent move would probably be best to be honest.

Luckily it seems the club realise they made a mistake and I doubt will be repeating it anytime soon.

Rashica is suppose to play in Georgia with Kosovo so presume he won’t be allowed to feature in that game.

Oh yeah, I'd consider it unlikely either team would go for the loan with an option deal. It just seems too risky for any club to let an important player go to Norwich with them only getting the full fee on survival. Interesting though St Etienne are trying to shift Zaydou Youssouf on loan - and he could also be a good option for Norwich.

Camara is Puel's favourite at St Etienne so would be pained to sell him, let alone loan him out. As it says, Camara is a relatively low earner at the club so getting him out on loan wouldn't be of great help to them. Think it would have to be a permanent buy or nothing.

Brentford have already signed Onyeka and have a whole bunch of defensive midfielders, not sure it is an area they are looking to strengthen.

Would definitely cost more than €5m and hard to see him leave for less than €10m - but he has almost certainly outgrown St Etienne and it was expected he'd leave this summer. The slow market has meant there hasn't been as much interest in him as maybe he and his agent had hoped, which could open a window of opportunity for a Norwich sized club to take advantage.

French report that a 'newly promoted team' is after Mahdi Camara. He is an excellent young defensive midfielder and as Watford and Brentford have both already signed new defensive midfielders, it feels most likely it is Norwich in for him. https://www.leprogres.fr/sport/2021/08/24/mercato-a-l-asse-des-clubs-prets-a-degainer-pour-mahdi-camara

Using xG in a single game is fairly worthless to be honest - even those who are the biggest proponents of its use say it is something that only holds value over a relatively long period of time - as the variances start to level out. That being said, the Sterling chance had an xG of about .8 which means it was a better chance to score than a penalty (which are regarded as about .75). Give away chances that big from open play, and you will concede goals. Man City focus on creating high xG chances, it is something Pep has worked into his style. That is why they often create plays that aim on getting the ball to the byline and pulling back to a player (often Sterling) in the centre, it is one of the easiest ways to produce high value chances.

Russia is a very difficult league to sign players from though - clubs there pay large wages and have wealthy owners who don't like selling. It is also a big gamble as the quality is very varied and many players coming out of there often struggle in the larger European leagues. Ahmed Musa looked like a world beater in Russia, but could never make an impact for Leicester - there aren't many success stories of players signed from the Russian league in all honesty.

Yeah, this is my concern - Norwich need to press teams higher up the pitch in the Prem as they aren't going to be able to dominate possession as well. There were some promising signs of this in pre-season, in the first half against Newcastle they did press very high, before tiring out in the 2nd half - same with the Liverpool game. Hopefully now fitness is improving it will be possible to press higher for longer.

Apparently he is on about €60k - €80k a week - hence the desperation from Schalke to sell, but no club wants him permanently as they can't/won't meet his wage demands.