Tonight and it was a bit like the buses player-wise as fresh from the official announcement of Chris Killen's arrival from Celtic on loan for the rest of the season, so Sky Sports were claiming that Dartford's Cody McDonald was preparing to embark on a full-time football career with the Canaries.
The Ryman League hitman was, they claimed, completing both his City medical and his Canary paperwork as the part-time Essex scaffolder finally got his chance to play at the professional level.
The 22-year-old trained with the Canaries last week and – speaking before Friday's trip to Doncaster Rovers – new City boss Bryan Gunn admitted that he'd liked the hunger the lad brought to the party.
He wanted it. Badly. As most semi-pro players do given that they tend to know exactly what the real world is all about. And in the current economic climate, there's no too much work going on for scaffolders.
“Cody came in last week; I'd been speaking to their manager; he'd been scoring a lot of goals in the Ryman Premier,” said Gunn, as one of his list of non-league possibles grew into a probable.
“He came in; did well. We had a practice match on the Sunday; he trained with us on the Monday. And he's got good qualities,” said the City chief, as the transfer merry-go-round whirs into life with a vengence this evening.
Gunn was clearly keeping very close tabs on him; as well he might. By all accounts there were 11 Football League scouts all told at Princes Park yesterday as Dartford beat Maidstone 1-0. McDonald started the game before gingerly hobbling off after 68 minutes in what could yet be his farewell appearance for the Darts.
He grabbed two more goals for his growing collection in a mid-week Essex Cup game.
“I've not seen him in a full 90 minutes myself and I probably need to do that before making a final decision, but he certainly didn't do himself any harm when he was training with the first team squad,” said the Canary boss.
Peterborough United were, said Gunn, one club that had mined the Conference and below to good effect for hidden gems; the other example is always that of Michael Kightly at Wolves who Mick McCarthy unearthed from Grays Athletic.
“The players are very hungry,” Gunn noted. “I think Cody when he left us he went back to a night shift on his scaffolding job. So if these guys are given opportunities to try and build a career in professional football, I'm sure they'll grab it and make the most of it.
“He's been scoring goals; been recommended; we've had a look. And that's the sort of process that you need to go through.”
Before you then sign them…
It was a process that saw Darts boss Tony Burman accompany his young charge to Colney over that two-day trial. Writing in his manager's notes ahead of the Maidstone clash this weekend, the Dartford chief felt the lad had done the club proud.
And with 19 goals from his 17 starts since switching from Maldon Town last October, he is going to be a hard act to follow. It is also quite some rise for the Witham-based frontman.
“As you are all aware Cody trained with Norwich last Sunday and Monday with me in attendance,” Burman told Darts fans this weekend.
“He enjoyed the experience and, in my opinion, did not look out of place over the two days.
“There are also a number of other league clubs still enquiring about Cody which he is fully aware of. We will have to see what the future brings, but I can tell you that Cody is fully focussed and will be very much involved in tomorrow's game [Saturday].”
Game out of the way and with the transfer window about to close – and all with both Peterborough and Sheffield United reported to be in close attendance, Gunn may well have felt that now was the time to get pen to paper and seal the second deal of the day following Killen's arrival from Celtic.
And nor is it expected to stop there. For as welcome as his frontline reinforcements are, the big, gaping hole in his armoury remains at the heart of that City defence with both Aberdeen's Zander Diamond and Cardiff skipper Darren Purse linked to the vacancy.
In midfield, the Canaries are also tonight reported to be running the rule over Rangers' Alan Gow while Birmingham's Garry O'Connor could be more of a longer shot. He had to have surgery on a long-standing groin niggle just before Christmas and, at the time, the Blues striker wasn't expecting to be available again until mid-February.
If he's now being loaned out for a month by way of a rehab process, however, that might work to both Norwich's and Birmingham's favour as Gunn sharpens O'Connor up for his old pal Alex McLeish ahead of the final promotion push.
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