Peter Grant's determination to scour every foreign field for a possible hidden gem appear now to have taken him to the Czech Republic and a move for striker David Strihavka.
The 24-year-old – top scorer in the Czech top flight last season – currently plies his trade with Banik Ostrava and the player's agent was this weekend claiming that a deal was imminent. The official club website of Banik was also running the story today as City's latest transfer tale began to gain 'legs'.
This one looks like a runner – Jamie could have a new Czech mate by the end of the week.
“You are right (when asked whether Norwich are keen on Strihavka). So far, though, nothing has been signed,” Ondrej Chovanec told the website, premierleague.cz – with the story then emerging here via Sky Sports.
“It is very likely that he will move there, though,” added the agent.
“Negotiations will continue in the next week and it should be resolved in the next week as well. Norwich have been tracking David for a long time so they are aware of his qualities.
“And despite that Norwich are in the Championship, they have the potential to be promoted to the Premiership.”
Grant and his coaching staff have been racking up the Air Miles in recent months with Eastern Europe being a frequent destination as the Canaries look to follow the lead set by such clubs as Plymouth and Barnsley in picking up some decent-value players from the newly-enlarged European Union.
Southampton are another club to go down the East European route – though in their case Marek Saganowski came from Poland, via Troyes, in France.
It is not the first case that Strihavka has been linked to a move to England – Aidy Boothroyd's Watford were linked to the player in last January's transfer window.
Indeed, the Hornets were even reported to be taking the player on a week's trial only for Norwich to step up their interest again this summer. For anyone fluent in Czech, the club's general manager was clearly discussing Strihavka's potential exit on Banik's official website today.
Interestingly – despite Sky Sports claiming that the former Sparta Prague striker was lined up as a replacement for the departed Robert Earnshaw – Strihavka is anything but. He is, for one thing, 6ft 3in tall.
All of which suggests that he will come in to offer a Chris Iwelumo-style foil for the returning Jamie Cureton. That and give both Dion Dublin and Chris Brown something to think about.
Despite being at the prime age for a Bosman-style free transfer – he was 24 in March – it is understood that Strihavka is under contract at Banik and any move will, at some stage, be liable to a transfer fee.
Two other pieces of information are worth noting – that with 13 goals from his 28 league appearances last season, he is approaching an Earnie-style one-in-two goals ratio, while the Czech Premier Division only play 30 games a season.
Playing in all but two of them suggests that the lad plays games and has a decent fitness record to accompany his recent goal-scoring prowess.
In the meantime, City's long and patient pursuit of 22-year-old Celtic keeper David Marshall appears to be coming to a conclusion with the player's agent Wille Mackay suggesting that subject to one final nod of approval from Parkhead boss Gordon Strachan, Marshall will be in Norfolk to complete the final formalities of his switch in the next 48-hours.
“If Celtic manager Gordon Strachan gives the go-ahead, David will have a medical on Monday or Tuesday,” McKay told BBC Sport this weekend.
“He just wants to play regularly and, with Peter Grant, Jim Duffy and Bryan Gunn there he won't be homesick.”
With City back in pre-season training this week, the pace of this summer's transfer activity was always likely to pick up and Grant could yet hope to have both Marshall and Strihavka there or thereabouts by the end of the week.
He is, however, unlikely to stop there – particularly now he has ?3.5 million plus sat in his back pocket following Earnie's exit.
It could well prove to be another lively week.
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