Norwich brace themselves for a Rexit as Nathan Redmond departs to Southampton

If various media outlets are to be believed, Norwich City winger Nathan Redmond is set to undertake a medical ahead of a reported £11 million move to Southampton. Despite being heavily linked to Stoke City, it looks like the Saints, who are currently manager-less following the depature of Ronald Koeman, have beaten their Premier League rivals to Redmond’s signature.

Upon our relegation in May, the departure of the 22-year-old felt inevitable. Redmond stuck with us during our previous failure in 2013/14, and played a crucial role in City’s subsequent return to the Premier League a year later, but it seemed unrealistic to expect him make the drop down for a second time in three seasons. Despite being a bit of a marmite figure among the Norwich fanbase, the stats prove that the 2015/16 was a relatively good one for him. 6 goals and 3 assists in a relegated team that scored just 39 goals is an impressive return for a winger who is constantly derided for his supposed lack of end product.

It has been a strange City career for Redmond; goalscorer at Wembley, and goalscorer against Ipswich in a play-off semi-final - goals that will have earned him a rightful place in Canary folklore for centuries to come. Despite this justifiable claim for legendary status, I can’t help but feel that he will largely be remembered for his tendency to flatter to deceive. Last season he started 24 out of 36 games (66%) and in our previous Premier League season he started 23 out of 36 games (64%). For a player who is probably our most gifted and one of our most feared attacking threats, these figures are relatively low. For me, they are a perfect reflection of the inconsistency that has typified his Norwich career. The final home game against Watford, our 4-2 victory, saw Redmond produce one of his very best performances in a City shirt. Using his extreme pace to drive at, and take on, defenders, and proving a constant goal threat - it really was the youngster at his very best. But for every Watford performance, we would get spells (like over the Christmas period), when he would be a shadow of his best. Spells when, despite his pace, he would be afraid to take players on, his decision-making would be poor and his goal threat non-existent: if Nathan Redmond is anything but full of confidence, then he is not worth having.

This being said, I guess it has to be remembered that he is still just 22 - such issues with confidence and inconsistency are always going to riddle a player at such a young age. You only have to look at Raheem Sterling, the £50 million man, to see that. His goal threat has dramatically improved since joining the club at 19 and his final ball is, slowly, getting better. However, his ability to be completely ineffective for significant spells of a season will be a worry for Saints fans. Perhaps it is unfair to judge him so harshly - his two seasons in the Premier League have seen him in a relegated side both times. The move to a top-half Southampton team may see him flourish and blossom into the player that well all know he is more than capable of becoming. There is no doubt that playing in a more attacking side should help. Equally, expectations - especially after a big money move - will be far higher at Southampton. Redmond is the epitome of a ‘confidence player’ and how he deals with managing such increased expectation will surely prove to either make or break his career at the Saints.

The next few seasons will certainly be interesting: Redmond will either go on to prove he is a top level Premier League player, worthy of knocking on the England door, or conversely show that his level at Norwich last season - as a lower Premier league player - was about right. I wish him all the best.