City boss Bryan Gunn could find himself armed with, potentially, at least three new players as he prepares to entertain a Manchester United XI at Carrow Road this Saturday.
Preston winger Simon Whaley looks all-but done and dusted given that he is now reported to be having a medical in Norwich today.
Of more interest, however, will be the fate of the two, real discoveries of the Canaries' pre-season tour to Scotland – Serbian striker Goran Maric and Danish centre-half Jens Berkel Askou.
Both did their respective claims to a full-time City contract no harm whatsoever when they bagged a goal apiece in Saturday's third and final tour win of the summer with the 3-2 success over Airdrie.
It was Maric's second goal in as many games and with Gunn's quest to land a big, powerful, old fashioned No9 growing ever more urgent as the start to the new season looms less than three weeks away, so the aggressive, six-foot one-inch Serb might start to fit the bill.
Two other factors may also work in his favour – the fact that he is a free agent and won't come with the kind of transfer fee attached to the likes of an Alan Lee and that in Dejan Stefanovic, Maric has a fellow Serb to help him 'acclimatise' to a new life in Norfolk following his lengthy spell in Spain.
As for Askou, the Dane likewise has one or two strings to his bow – not only is he a free agent, but he is also a decent sized 'unit' at six-foot three-inches tall. And as he proved in the win over Airdrie, the 26-year-old isn't averse to putting his head in where it hurts in both boxes as he latched onto Paul McVeigh's first-half free-kick to bury home Norwich's third and final goal.
In common with the vast majority of Scandinavian's, he also speaks fluent English – as he proved in an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk afterwards.
He is, it appears, thoroughly enjoying his trial spell with the League One side – a spell now reported to have been extended to another week as Askou heads back to City's Colney training HQ.
“I've enjoyed it very much so far,” said Askou, fresh from a short-term move to Kasimpasa in the Turkish First Division.
“I've had a very good impression of the players and the people around; the staff – they are very nice people. And, yes, I'm enjoying the pre-season. They are a lot of nice guys.”
Gunn, too, can reflect on a relatively injury-free tour north – one that managed to avoid a Jimmy Smith-like exit when the on-loan Chelsea starlet found himself ruled out for the better part of four months on the back of one, innocuous looking challenge in Holland – enough to smash a big hole in Peter Grant's best-laid summer plans.
Maric, Matty Pattison and Saturday's star of the show Wes Hoolahan all hobbled out of the fray before the end – leaving the City boss with just ten men on the pitch for the final 11 minutes of the contest.
The fact that Norwich dug in and kept their perfect, pre-season record intact delighted Gunn as he continued to give everyone a decent amount of game-time. Adam Drury's injury woes of last season look to be fading into the memory as he got another 45 minutes under his belt with Academy youngster Dario Dumic forming an all-Dane centre-half paring with Askou before the latter was replaced by Michael Nelson in the 66th minute.
Dumic and veteran striker Jamie Cureton were the only two players to complete the full 90 minutes; the two players yet to feature at all are last season's FA Youth Cup skipper Korey Smith and newly-arrived Australian keeper Michael Theoklitos who will, presumeably, make his Carrow Road entrance against a young United side this weekend.
England Youth prospects Jed Steer and Declan Rudd shared the goalkeeping duties on Saturday as their education in the ways of men's football continued.
“I'm fairly pleased,” said the City chief, quizzed as to his thoughts at the end of the club's eight-day summer foray north of the border.
“The winning mentality that we've asked for, they've shown – and they've shown that again today when we've finished off the game with just ten men.
“The boys had to dig deep there just to keep the result, but overall the week has been very successful.”
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