Reason for delay.....

[Bradwell canary 109]

Todays Mirror reports, shows AN is hard to turn down:

Steven Naismith joined Norwich for £8.5million – after originally snubbing the Premier League new boys.

Mirror Sport understands that Scotland striker Naismith originally phoned the Canaries to say he was staying at Everton when the clubs agreed a fee early in the transfer window.

But Norwich boss Alex Neil persuaded the 29-year-old to make a U-turn with his persistence and a lucrative three-and-a-half-year deal.

Naismith, who has not played for Everton this year, admitted: “I had to think a lot about the future.

“Norwich have displayed class in the way they’ve done their business all the way through, and they’ve been very persistent.

[AJ 1,218]

I did mis-read the article a little, said he hasn''t played this year, but of course this SEASON he has played in 10 games for them returning 3 goals, and further goal in 3 cup appearances. That''s a pretty good hit rate for a CAM.

It''s also reported we paid about 7.7m for him, with add-ons pending on our survival taking it up to the reported 8.5m figure.

You could see from his comments on the NCFC website yesterday he respected our approach by being desirable to him. It''s interesting reading McNally''s comments on the homepage today about us signing Klose and Naismith, saying we''re punching above our weight now by competing with the big boys for regularly international players. I would assume his comments about Champions League football are regarding Haller, but it''s nice to see we have that ambition and if we can get players on board like Naismith and Haller the reality of getting into Europe can quickly change. Great stuff all round from AN and McNally, and th escout who''s name I forget that has been mentioned a fair amount throughout this deal. Let''s hope it all works out on the pitch!

[Lessingham Canary 99]

Was a good article, I got a number of things from it personally.

1/ McNally and Alex Neil make a great team, very persuasive together.

2/ I really like Steven Naismith, more than I thought I would, he seems very genuine, loyal and straight guy.

3/ He will be as big an addition in the dressing room / training pitch as he will on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon.

The whole scenario has been as good an experience witnessed on a transfer since we signed Hucks, IMO. (though there was a false dawn with the wolf)

[morty 0]

So we threw more money at him?[:D]Ah well, its how it works!

[AJ 1,218]

Totally agree Lessingham, and the same can be said for Klose, and I''d imagine Pinto. These players are relatively taking a punt on a team in a relegation fight. As McNally said it isn''t easy to persuade players who have been playing in europe, and regularly for their countries, to come to teams like us. But they''ve done it.

I don''t think any of these, especially Naismith, are as big of a risk as Wolf. Naismith especially has shown his qualities in the Prem on a regular basis, and Klose has been playing well for his country. Wolfie hadn''t done either of those.

[Grant Holts Moustache 105]

The mirror report seems to contradict what McNally has said about the move. He said “I think last summer it was ever so easy really, in so much that Everton were prepared to sell to us, we were prepared to pay the price, everything was agreed with the player and his representatives but Everton needed a replacement coming in the front door if Steven was leaving to join Norwich City,”

Would suggest to me it was never a financial problem as we managed to agree that already and that any delay this month was Everton making sure that they had enough cover.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Dead Canary"]The mirror report seems to contradict what McNally has said about the move. He said “I think last summer it was ever so easy really, in so much that Everton were prepared to sell to us, we were prepared to pay the price, everything was agreed with the player and his representatives but Everton needed a replacement coming in the front door if Steven was leaving to join Norwich City,”

Would suggest to me it was never a financial problem as we managed to agree that already and that any delay this month was Everton making sure that they had enough cover.[/quote]There was a journo tweeted, about a week ago, that Naismith wasn''t willing to move away from Everton unless it was too good to turn down.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

The situation as I see it, with some little bits of ''behind the scenes'' info is as follows;

1) Norwich popped up at the last minute with a bid for Naismith in the summer - it was acceptable to Everton and the player. However Everton needed someone in and there was no time to do that, so the transfer didn''t happen.

2) Norwich kept the offer on the table right through the season and when Jan 1st rolled around Everton accepted it again. Martinez said Norwich''s offer ''had been there from day 1''.

3) Everton tipped off a Guardian and BBC jurno (the BBC was Phil McNulty, not sure who at the Guardian), that a deal was being agreed for Naismith and basically alerting all other interested parties

4) Two to three other PL clubs bid for Naimsith, so he wanted to negotiate with them before agreeing to Norwich. This also suited Everton who wanted him around just in case Kone got injured.

5) Norwich increased their offer to him in light of other clubs interest. (Everton said he was ''injured'' to cover dropping him why he agreed terms)

6) Naismith accepted Norwich''s increased offer.

7) Deal done.