Norwich City

Alan Nixon of the Sunday People recently reported that West Ham is lining up a £5 million offer for Robert Snodgrass. However, it’s highly unlikely that Norwich City would be prepared to sell. It is expected that Snodgrass will be seen as an integral part of Chris Hughton’s plans. He certainly enjoyed a very good debut season in the Premier League.

The former Leeds winger proved to be useful scoring goals and setting up opportunities. He showed excellent work rate. He also provided excellent delivery from set-piece opportunities, which proved to be a very useful route to goal for Norwich last season.

Improving the club’s attacking options has been a priority for the manager over this summer. New players have come in and should produce a decent amount of goals. But it’s important that they are supplied with the sort of service they can profit from.

That service is likely to be provided by Snodgrass, amongst other players.

It certainly would not make any sense for Hughton to cash in on the player only 12 months after signing him, unless he plans on picking up a better player from the transfer market. But Norwich has already spent a decent amount of money and probably won’t be prioritizing an additional winger at this stage. Remember the club has already acquired the services of Nathan Redmond.

Snodgrass himself probably wouldn’t jump at the chance of joining West Ham based on the fact that he wouldn’t see it as a career upgrade.

I have written throughout the summer about the need for the club to keep hold of their best players.

It was worrying when Chelsea bid for John Ruddy, but David McNally dealt with that situation in fine style, and I would expect a similar no-nonsense approach in this situation. Snodgrass is an important member of the squad, and I’m quite sure no offer will be entertained.

There would simply be no point in bringing in good players only to sell a very good player. That being said; I don’t think Norwich fans should be concerned about this speculation. And although there might be genuine interest from West Ham, I find it hard to believe that Norwich will be prepared to play ball.

This is a very good time to be a Canary fan. No longer does this great club need to be concerned about a prize asset being sold to a league rival. Norwich have been ambitious this summer and are putting together a very handy squad, and I’m quite sure keeping hold of the services of Robert Snodgrass will be seen as paramount to those plans.

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One of the longest-running transfer saga's of recent years came to a conclusion yesterday as Norwich City finally completed the signing of Celtic's Gary Hooper. 

It was a deal that swung to and fro in relentless fashion, and the Canaries had to battle right down to the wire to eventually secure their man. 

In hindsight, we should have known that it was never going to be straight forward.

Bid after bid rejected in January, a private jet waiting at Glasgow airport on transfer deadline day to no avail and the small matter of intense interest from Queens Park Rangers this summer all conspired to go against the prospect of Hooper ever pulling on a yellow shirt.

However, the months of perseverance finally came to fruition yesterday as the 25-year-old was officially unveiled at Carrow Road. And I for one am delighted.

In the shape of Hooper, Norwich City have managed to secure a striker that gets a kick out of putting the ball in the back of the net—and in modern-day football, such a trait is priceless.

Simply put, the former Tottenham trainee is just an out-and-out goalscorer in the purest sense, and that is an ability that can't be underestimated—no matter what league you are playing in.

Whether it is via his left foot, right foot or his head, Hooper has scored them all. 

Canaries fans should be warned that Hooper isn't the type of striker that will offer much outside the box, but once the ball is in the penalty area, the man comes alive. 

People will inevitably point to the standard of the SPL, where Hooper has been plying his trade for the past three seasons. But it must be noted that the forward has handled the burden of expectation that comes with playing for a magnificent club like Celtic brilliantly. 

You can only play what's in front of you, and a return of 63 goals in 95 league games for the Bhoys is a remarkable effort at any level.

What's more, Hooper displayed a similar predatory instinct at Scunthorpe United, as he bagged 43 goals in 82 appearances for the Lincolnshire outfit, a team that, at the time, was fighting valiantly against the threat of relegation from The Championship (although, admittedly, some of those strikes did come in the Iron's League One promotion campaign).

To be able to score goals at such a frequent rate is a special talent, and Hooper has earned his chance to now test himself on the biggest stage.

No one can deny that the step up to the Premier League is a significant jump, but Hooper has the ability to thrive under the spotlight, and I am convinced that he will score goals. As he has always done.

It's a move that should suit all parties, and the fact that Chris Hughton was so relentless in his pursuit of the forward should tell you all you need to know about how highly he's regarded at Carrow Road.

In short, Gary Hooper could be the perfect player for Norwich City and Norwich City could be the perfect club for Gary Hooper at this precise time, with the club showing serious ambition to make an assault on the top 10 next season.

Undoubtedly, if Hooper does excel for the Canaries, then bigger clubs will inevitably come looking. But even so, you can be rest assured that Norwich would stand to make a healthy profit on a player that only cost them a reported £5.5 million to prize away from Celtic. 

At such a price, signing the striker was something of a no-brainer and the prospect of a Ricky van Wolfswinkel-Hooper partnership is a tantalising thought.

The transfer provides Hooper with a genuine chance of forcing his way into the England reckoning and a spot on the plane to Brazil shouldn't be ruled out.

But until then, Hooper needs to show the world just why Norwich were so desperate to land his signature. 

And who would bet against him doing exactly that. 

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Slowly and surely, Norwich City is filling gaps in their squad. Reports from The Metro suggest that Maxi Lopez could be the next player that the club signs. It’s a well-known fact that Norwich City will need to add more to their forward line ahead of the season.

The link with Lopez has caused a mixed reaction from fans, but I personally think that it would be an excellent piece of business. A fee of £3.5m has been mentioned, and it appears that Norwich would be getting value for that price.

One possible concern is that the player is now 29 years old and hasn’t always excelled everywhere that he has been.

It has been reported elsewhere that the player has been at some big clubs, but a move to Norwich—where he can play regular games—could be just what he needs. I have said in previous articles that it’s important that we are not over reliant on Ricky van Wolfswinkel, and I have to say that this would be a hugely positive move.

The transfer fee mentioned is pretty small by Premier League standards, but the lad certainly has quality. Of course, it remains to be seen how Chris Hughton plans on utilizing the player, but the key for him will be the opportunity to get regular games.

And he has the obvious advantage of coming towards the end of his career, which means that he will not merely be using Norwich as a stepping stone towards bigger and better things. This perhaps is a reason that Hughton seems to be actively looking for an experienced forward from Europe.

Lopez has averaged goals in his career at one for every two-thirds games at times, and hopefully, he can rediscover that form in England if the move materialises.

It’s worth noting that even if Hughton plans on playing only one striker up front, it’s important to have different options for the tactical battles that lay ahead. And I think this potential signing would go a long way to putting those options in place.

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The 2013 summer transfer window has been absolutely fantastic for Norwich City so far.

Rather than arrive and immediately rip the schedule to shreds, manager Chris Hughton spent 12 months working with what Paul Lambert left him and (wisely) chose to consolidate in the English Premier League for one more season before putting his own stamp on the club.

You won't find the words "drastic upheaval" and "mass change" in the how-to handbook on avoiding second-season syndrome, and while at times the Canaries dragged their feet through the mud in the last campaign, it was a necessary sacrifice to stabilise the club.

The revolution started as soon as the Norfolk club looked safe on paper, securing a deal for Ricky van Wolfswinkel after cash-strapped Sporting Lisbon were forced to sell as early as March.

He's a completely different mould of striker to what Carrow Road is used to seeing, and it's fair to say at the time it wasn't a great deal.

Why? Because he cost approximately £8.5 million—some investment, considering the ilk of the club—and represents a rather one-dimensional threat on the pitch.

That can be fixed, of course, by surrounding him with the players to unlock his goalscoring abilities, and over the course of the last month, Hughton has done exactly that.

Last season, the Canaries' game was built on spraying the ball wide, crossing it and heading it in. Grant Holt, for all his heroism, is a limited player at the top level, and his lack of ability on the technical side stopped the team building up slowly through the middle.

Wes Hoolahan's inconsistencies also made it hard for Hughton to play a stable No. 10, and all this resulted in a serious lack of goals.

Van Wolfswinkel is a goal-machine in the right system, and while he didn't slot in on paper at the time, Hughton's summer acquisitions point to a different Norwich City side turning out in front of us next season.

Leroy Fer is a very interesting recruit at just £5 million—£3 million less than the price Everton agreed with previous club FC Twente in January—and has the potential to drastically alter Norwich's fortunes through the middle.

Javier Garrido has been retained on a permanent basis, while Martin Olsson has been added to shore up left-back. Both are comfortable on the ball, and while Garrido swung in cross after cross toward Holt's head last season, he's very capable of keeping it on the floor, too.

The Daily Mail's Graeme Yorke confirmed the club had agreed a fee for Toby Alderweireld with Ajax, and although the deal failed to come to fruition, it showed Hughton was chasing a real ball-playing centre-back.

Nathan Redmond can become a dynamic wide threat, and while a new centre-back would be nice, a silky No. 10 to play between the lines—with consistency, it should be noted—is the only remaining "necessary" addition.

Norwich could turn out next season with Robert Snodgrass, Anthony Pilkington, Fer and a new attacking playmaker flanking Dutch international van Wolfswinkel.

They will finally be able to create through the middle and feed the ball to RVW in the box rather than rely on the touchlines to do their damage. It makes them much more of a varied threat and subsequently much harder to game-plan for.

Hughton has clearly decided to do away with the skeletons in the Canaries' closet, move on the legacies and change their modus operandi. They survived by the skin of their teeth last season and struggled to win games, but the impending new look and playing style could make the club dark horses for a top-half finish.

Fantastic work so far, and Norwich fans are rightly optimistic for the campaign ahead.

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Premier League club Norwich City have unveiled their new 2013-14 away kit with a unique advertisement featuring new signing Ricky van Wolfswinkel.

Norwich City announced the new kit on their official website, Canaries.co.uk. It is modeled by van Wolfswinkel, a Dutch forward who joined the club this month from Sporting Lisbon in a club-record £8.5 million deal, per the Daily Mail.

"I am confident of scoring goals," van Wolfswinkel said upon signing, per the Mail. "That is part and parcel of my job, but the most important thing for me is I am a team player."

Another part of his job is now kit model in a campaign with the tagline: "Be afraid of the big bad wolf."

(Photo via Norwich City FC)

The kit, produced by Errea, features a white shirt with black-and-white sleeves and black collar. The shorts are black with a white stripe down each side, and the socks are white with black trim and "NCFC" printed on the front-center.

Aviva remains the main sponsor on the front-center of the shirt. The club crest appears on the left chest area, with Errea's logo opposite.

The kit is available now for pre-order here. It will go on sale July 26.

Said Will Hoy, Norwich City's head of sales and marketing:

This is the latest in a line of excellent home and away shirts provided by our official kit manufacturer Errea. Ricky was great fun to work with on the launch and he loves the new away kit, and we certainly hope it proves just as popular with our fans.

Norwich finished 11th in the Premier League last season. The Canaries will visit the United States to play the San Jose Earthquakes and Portland Timbers of MLS later this month. Van Wolfswinkel will wear squad No. 9 next season.

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A sea of change has swept through Carrow Road this summer.

Driven by ambition and bursting with belief, Norwich City appeared to have decided that the time has arisen for them to have a real go at kicking onto the next level.

Four years of consistently improving their position on the footballing pyramid, without breaking the bank and without forgetting just how far they have come, has ultimately meant that the Canaries have now reached a crossroads as to which direction they would like to proceed.

The club's early movements in the transfer market are the clearest indication yet that Norwich City possess a serious determination to keep moving in an upward motion.

Imposing Dutch midfielder Leroy Fer became the latest exciting talent to put pen to paper with the Norfolk outfit this weekend, following the likes of Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Nathan Redmond and Martin Olsson who have all agreed deals with the club during the close season.

The 23-year-old took to his official twitter account to express his delight at joining Chris Hughton's revolution and will meet his new teammates for the first time when he and the rest of the first-team squad head out to the States on Monday for their impending pre-season tour. 

Like much of Norwich's business this time out, it is once again the sort of signing that screams of both ambition and forward thinking—with players like Fer conceivably able to form the spine of the team at Carrow Road for years to come. 

Such a dramatic shift in transfer policy is bound to come with the occasional knock, with PSV's Ola Toivonen (Express and Star) and Ajax's Toby Alderweireld (Sky Sports) both thought to have rejected switches to Norfolk, but the fact that Norwich are even putting themselves into the equation for the signatures of such quality additions is a refreshing sign of intent in itself.

It's an approach that has also been mirrored by teams like Swansea City and Southampton, with their excellent purchases of Wilfried Bony and Victor Wanyama, respectively, meaning that all three teams have been brave enough to persist with purchases that would have previously been little more than pipe dreams.

With the new influx of money coming into the Premier League courtesy of a bumper new TV deal, competition for positions in the standings promises to be fiercer than ever, and those that stand still could be in serious danger of getting left behind.

It's great to see that Norwich City appear to be taking steps to make certain that they not one of those club's content to stagnate, and such ambition could conceivably pay dividends next season and beyond. 

Of course, a change of direction will sadly mean that some players will be left behind, but there is no room for sentiment in the cutthroat world of top-flight football.

The departure of Grant Holt to Wigan Athletic pulled on the heartstrings of Norwich supporters that have quite rightly idolised him for four wonderful years, but now is the time for fresh heroes to emerge and to take Norwich City into an exciting new era.

And with the current group of players being moulded into one of the finest squads available to a Canaries manager in recent years, more good times could be just around the corner. 

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Today the Birmingham Mail was reporting that Norwich City is all set to announce the signing of Nathan Redmond from Birmingham City. The deal is set to be £2 million up front with a further payment of £1.2 million being paid based on various add-ons.

Today was also the day that the Canaries officially announced the signing of Ricky van Wolfswinkel via their official website (Canaries.co.uk).

The one big question that would have been on fans' lips following that news is who will supply the Dutch striker.

Of course, the club already had the services of Robert Snodgrass and Anthony Pilkington, and Redmond is another to put into the mix that will surely be considered excellent value for money. It should be remembered that Pilkington and Snodgrass both arrived for similar fees from clubs outside of the Premier League.

It should also be noted that both players adapted to life very quickly to life in the English top flight.

Redmond has youth on his side, still just 19 years of age, and although he might be a little raw, his talent is clear to see. A talent that has seen him enjoy his share of first-team football in the Championship, as well as recognition by England at various age groups, and most recently at under-21 level.

It’s fair to say that the Canaries took full advantage of Sporting Lisbon’s financial woes to capture the signature of van Wolfswinkel at a knock-down price and cleverly avoided competition by doing the deal so early. It’s worth mentioning that Redmond is worth more than what the club's paying, but the club’s financial difficulties have more or less forced them into making this decision.

Most Norwich fans would agree that there is a lack of pace in the side, and this signing will certainly help sort that out. It appears to be a bargain signing, especially considering the sort of price that talented English players typically go for.

However, it is also a very smart move for the young winger.

Too many talented young British players have gone to clubs where they are simply not going to get regular games. This leads to them not fulfilling their potential. It hasn’t helped the England team either, so it’s important for Redmond to make a move to a club that are going to give him a chance to impress.

Unsurprisingly, there were said to be a few admirers in the EPL, but it was only Swansea and Norwich that made firm offers for the player. The risk level for the Canaries on this one is relatively low, especially since Chris Hughton worked with the player while he was Birmingham’s manager. And it follows a successful route for the club of recruiting players from the lower leagues.

In this case, the player is very young with bags of talent and massive potential. His value should increase significantly if he performs well at Norwich. And in the unlikely event that he flops, Norwich will have only lost a very small sum by Premier League standards.

Hughton received a lot of criticism last season for the defensive football that he played, but this is another signing that shows that he is working towards a more attacking approach next season. It’s fair to say that the transfer budget at Carrow Road this season is significantly more than it has been in previous seasons. But it appears the majority of that budget will be reserved for a select few players.

Some fans may find the signing of Redmond to be a little underwhelming, and it’s true that the squad still needs to be significantly improved before the start of the new season.

But investing in young British players should always be part of the transfer policy.

Time will tell what Redmond can deliver, but let’s hope he gets a chance to show fans what he can do. And maybe we will be talking about him being considered for the full England squad before too long.

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