Despite being less than a week into his new role at Norwich City, Phillipe Clement has discussed his strategy towards the approaching January transfer window.
The Canaries’ dire start to the season has led to transfer talk ramping up over the past few weeks, with Sporting Director Ben Knapper doing a round of interviews following the Belgian’s appointment at Carrow Road. A big topic of discussion was the decision to sell Emiliano Marcondes to East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town, which Knapper defended.
Clement Begins Planning
With some positive news in terms of Josh Sargent being likely to stay for the rest of this campaign at least, it is now up to the recruitment team to provide him with some useful supporting options to get the American back to his best in front of goal and helping the team pick up vital points.
Speaking to the media ahead of his first test as Norwich manager, away to Birmingham City, the former Rangers man revealed plans are beginning to be put in place for the winter transfer window. (Quotes via the Pink ‘Un):
“We’ve already been talking this week about ideas that we can have for the future with some players who can be interesting for the future for the club, and the recruitment team will look at them.
“It’s about working together. Everybody only wants one thing and that is a better result with Norwich. It’s not about themselves. It’s about teamwork.
“Some of the profiles we like might be in these players that are injured. I also know with some of the squad I wanted to get them to my old team.
“But you can also have really nice surprises with players you didn’t know from before, even with young players coming out of the academy. So let’s make an evaluation. In December we will do it, we will sit together and then see what our targets are for January.”
How Heavy Will Norwich Invest?
With 12 permanent players coming through the door over the summer, it would be expected that a decent chunk of the team’s budget will have been spent. However, with the club now at a crossroads and staring at potential relegation, the ownership may need to put their hands in their wallets once more to avoid a drop into League One.
Ante Crnac will play no further part in this season following his ACL injury, but many of City’s current injury layoffs are expected back in action over the course of the next month. So while some new faces are likely to come in, it may be wise to see how these returning players perform under a new manager and system before jumping to conclusions.
