Wildschut and Dijks arrive at Norwich City as Brady departs

After a quiet thirty days, Norwich City’s transfer window burst into life on Tuesday – deadline day – as two incomings, Mitchell Dijks and Yanic Wildschut, were accompanied by the notable departure of Robbie Brady. With City’s ‘buy to sell’ policy for the window highly-documented, the sale of Brady to Burnley was required in order to free the funds for Neil to bring in the two Dutchmen.

Despite news last week suggesting that City’s move for Dijks had fallen through, the offer of a loan move rather than a permanent one – allowing him to evaluate his options at the end of the season – persuaded the 23-year-old to join. If there was one signing that we simply had to make during the window then it was a left back. With Olsson, our first-choice, leaving for Swansea and with Brady as our only back-up option also departed, we were left without a natural left back. If we were to be serious about a promotion push then trying to navigate the remainder of the season by playing Steven Whittaker out-of-position at left back was simply not going to be an option. Thus, to go into the final day of the window with still no replacement for Olsson was concerning for City supporters but the arrival of Dijks soon eased said fears.

When discussing his arrival, Alex Neil pointed to Dijks’ height as one of his main assets and at 6ft 4 it will be hoped that he can add some much needed physicality to our side. Our torrid away form, which saw us go over three months without a win until Saturday’s victory at Cardiff, has largely been down to our failure to compete physically with the likes of Barnsley and Rotherham, and, if only due to his height, Dijks should improve us in this aspect. Having made over 50 top level appearances with Ajax, and at the still relatively tender age of 23, Djiks has all the credentials to be a very astute signing. Any fears that he would struggle with the transition from the slower, possession-based Eredivisie to the rough and tumble of the Championship were quickly forgotten following his debut at Cardiff as he played a crucial role in earning City a very rare clean-sheet away from home.

It soon became clear that it was not only City’s defence that Alex Neil was looking to physical bolster, as City’s other deadline-day addition, left-winger Wildschut, boasts a similarly large frame. For all of Robbie Brady’s technical ability, he was never the quickest nor the strongest of wingers, and, whilst I would be pleasantly surprised if Wildschut is able to compete with Brady’s quality on the ball, his other assets – which Brady didn’t have – will hopefully add a new dimension to the side.

The addition of Wildschut also suggests a return to a transfer policy that has previously served us so well: signing young and hungry players. At 25, Wildschut is by no means a ‘youngster’ but it is still a relatively sprightly age for a winger and one would expect that he still has his peak years ahead of him. Perhaps more importantly, Wildschut, like Dijks, has never played in the Premier League and thus fits into the motivated and ‘hungry’ category of player who will be desperate to help City get promoted in order to have a taste of the top-flight. Whilst at Middlesborough, he was part of the squad who Norwich defeated in the 2014/15 Championship play-off final and was consequently sold mid-way through their promotion campaign in the following season. To be so close, yet so far, to reaching the Premier League will surely only increase his motivation to achieve promotion with Norwich. A goal and match-winning performance against the side he has just left on Tuesday evening would be a welcome start!

The departure of Brady is a difficult one to evaluate – whilst, on his day, he was the best player at the club you will struggle to find many Norwich fans who are overly sad to see him go. After a hugely impressive opening 6 months to his City career, the Republic of Ireland international has often flattered to deceive and his commitment to the cause has been questioned on numerous occasions. With this in mind, the reported figure of £13 million represents a very good piece of business and the fact that his sale allowed us to then fund the moves for both Dijks and Wildschut suggests that it was a wise move.

I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was expecting more from the window; I still feel that we are left weak in central defence and an extra centre-midfielder and striker would not have gone amiss. Nonetheless, both Dijks and Wildschut look useful and we have replaced two players who did not really want to be here with two who should be hugely motivated to make an impact in the remaining three months of the season, and that can only be a good thing.