Transfer news and analysis for Norwich following their promotion back to the Premier League; Summer transfer window runs from June 9 to August 31; 2021/22 Premier League season starts on weekend of August 14
Tuesday 25 May 2021 11:13, UK
The transfer window opens on June 9 but what do Norwich need to do this summer ahead of their Premier League return?
Norwich will sign a centre-back this summer and two players they are interested in are FC Koln's Sebastiaan Bornauw and Fulham's Tosin Adarabioyo.
Daniel Farke's side will also spend £14m to convert the loans of Burnley defender Ben Gibson and PAOK's Dimitris Giannoulis to permanent deals as a result of promotion to the Premier League.
But signing another centre-back is one of the main priorities for the club this summer.
Bornauw and Adarabioyo are targets who have been watched closely. Another target is Celtic's Kristoffer Ajer.
It's been a striker's dream playing for Norwich this season. The Championship winners managed 716 shots, the most in the division and almost 200 more than second-placed Watford.
However, despite creating the second-highest number of 'big' chances, their finishing left something to be desired, scoring only 42 per cent of those - and ending with a small goals deficit compared to their xG across the season.
Their style could not have been more pronounced. No team in the Championship was involved in fewer aerial duels than the Canaries, in no small part down to the fact they had the most possession of any side, with more than 60 per cent on average.
Who needs to go long when you can keep the ball? Norwich didn't so much top the table of completed passes as steamroll it, racking up more than 3,000 more than second-placed Bournemouth as they passed their way to promotion.
Daniel Farke on the club's position ahead of the summer window: "We have to be good and smart in our recruitment. This will always be a topic for us.
"We are the only self-funding club on this level, and we can't spend millions of pounds. It means we have to be a bit smarter, a bit quicker, a bit more creative and perhaps, also, a bit riskier than other clubs.
"We have to say that we are much better prepared this season in comparison to two years ago because two years ago we had just won the Championship with a bunch of young lads."
Sky Sports' Simeon Gholam writes: "As most will be aware of from their last stint in the Premier League, Norwich are not a club that will splurge on signings in a bid to retain their status in the top flight.
"The recruitment operation will be in full swing again as they try to sensibly add to their squad, but much of their business will depend on what happens to two of the jewels in their crown - Max Aarons and Emi Buendia. If both go it will be for big money, and will play a huge role in who comes in to replace them.
"Elsewhere, a new centre-back may be required, and Daniel Farke could do a lot worse than enquire about 20-year-old Marc Guehi - the Chelsea loanee who was one of the stars of the Championship this season with Swansea. They may also try to bring back Oliver Skipp from Tottenham, who also enjoyed a brilliant campaign.
"Up front they also could do with signing some competition for Teemu Pukki. Without him they are desperately lacking goals, as was shown the last time they were in the top flight when he went off the boil in the second half of the season."
