Yet another deadline day ends in disappointment for Norwich City fans

Wednesday’s transfer deadline day proved to be yet another disappointing one for Norwich City fans as three outgoings were matched with no-one coming the other way. The conclusion of the summer window means that City have made just three outfield additions to last season’s squad - not quite the fresh overhaul that so many Norwich supporters hoped for.

Upon our relegation in May, if I was asked for the two players that I felt City most needed to recruit in preparation for our Championship campaign then the answer would have been simple: a proven 20-goal a season striker to partner and compete with Cameron Jerome, and a solid centre-back to partner Timm Klose. 4 months later, 1st September and, we have succeeded in signing neither; the City board have seemingly achieved the impossible and, somehow, out-done their own incompetence.

At centre-back we still have the equally underwhelming and equally unreliable options of Ryan Bennett, Russell Martin, Sebastien Bassong and Michael Turner as the only partners for Timm Klose. Had we managed (or even attempted) to bring in a partner for Klose then, for once, we would have had the core of a strong defence. Failure to do so means that our defensive issues, which were demonstrated during Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Birmingham, will continue to rumble on.

In attack, alongside the currently injured and inconsistent Cameron Jerome, we have the unfancied Kyle Lafferty (who was apparently set to leave the club on Wednesday, if not for our failure to bring in a replacement), the untested Carlton Morris and latest signing Nelson Oliveira. In fairness, a bit of research suggests that Oliveira will prove to be a shrewd addition. The Portuguese international scored 9 goals in 27 appearances in a Forest side that struggled to score last season and the majority of Forest supporters would admit that this figure would have been far higher in a better side, with more service. Nonetheless, Oliveira has only scored 30 goals in a career that has spanned almost 200 games, with this 9-goal return for Forest last season being his most prolific in a single campaign. With this in mind, expectations of him being the 20-goal striker City supporters desire would be misguided. Whilst it is hoped that Jerome’s current set-back is only short-term, any prolonged spell on the sidelines would still leave City worryingly short - if only we had just had three months to prepare the squad for such scenarios…

Perhaps even more disappointing than the lack of incomings was in fact the outgoing of James Maddison on a three month loan deal to Aberdeen. Maddison has made two appearances for City this season: 6-1 vs Coventry in the EFL Cup and 6-1 vs Peterborough in the EFL Trophy. The 19-year-old was at the heart of both victories, recording numerous assists and getting on the scoresheet (albeit via a deflection) in the latter, and many City fans hoped that this form for the second-string would soon propel him into Alex Neil’s first-team thinking. Whilst he may be raw and patience would be required, the majority of City fans would rather this patience be spent on the potential of young Maddison than on Steven Naismith, who continues to hugely disappoint. In an ideal world, the ex-Coventry youngster will go to Aberdeen and get plenty of minutes under his belt, light up the SPL, and come back in January ready to force his way into the first-team reckoning at Carrow Road. It’s just a shame that Norwich, at the moment, never seem to be a club willing to provide such ‘minutes’ to such players.

It is a similar story for Harry Toffolo who was another deadline day departure, this time to League One Scunthorpe. Robbie Brady showed last season that he was incapable of performing solidly in the left-back role and he has done nothing to disprove that so far this season. With this in mind, and with Martin Olsson currently injured, many were calling for Toffolo to be given a chance. To not even keep him at the club as back-up is simply bizarre.

Despite all this, it would be wrong to say that City don’t have a very strong team - we do. If this group of players fail to reach at least the top six then they will have under-performed. We just could have made it a lot easier for ourselves.