With a record sixth relegation confirmed last week at Villa Park, followed by a dismantlement from David Moyes’ West Ham, the plans for next season will no doubt already be in place for the 2022-23 Championship campaign.
Dean Smith will be given his first real chance to put his stamp on the squad following a quiet January transfer window, but an already fairly large squad must be dealt with and organised, including a number of players set to return from loan spells over this season.
Several players have spent the duration of this season out on loan, and with some important first-team squad members likely to leave the club following relegation, there may well be a contrast between the side that we saw this weekend and the side that will kick off Norwich City’s season in late July.
Sam McCallum has spent this season at QPR and has impressed boss Mark Warburton, picking up Young Player of the Year for the Hoops. With Manchester United loanee Brandon Williams announcing recently that he wants to return back to his parent club, Smith will be looking for a left-back to compete with Dimitris Gianoullis, making way for McCallum to return to Norwich and potentially fight for a first-team place.
McCallum has already returned to Colney for first-team training, but will not be available for tomorrow’s Premier League fixture away at Leicester.
Winger Onel Hernandez and Striker Jordan Hugill have also returned to first-team training this week after the conclusion of the Championship season.
Hugill has had a frustrating season, he made little impact at West Brom, scoring just once in 20 league appearances, but his form picked up slightly at Cardiff where he attained five goal involvements in 18 games.
With rumours of Pukki’s departure of Carrow Road to Turkey being swiftly shut down, alongside Josh Sargent and Adam Idah returning from injury ahead of the start of next season, a place for Hugill seems unlikely.
Similarly, it was a season of two stories for Hernandez. He scored just once for Middlesbrough before he moved to Birmingham where he has picked up three goals and three assists in 22 appearances.
Versatile fullback Bali Mumba has been on loan for the majority of the season at Peterborough, making 10 appearances for the Championship club. Mumba has already returned to City and has since featured for the Under-23s, but may well find a way into Smith’s thoughts ahead of next season.
Perhaps the most interesting loan story of this season is Todd Cantwell’s spell at Bournemouth. Cantwell has struggled to really break through under Scott Parker, and has not made as many first-team appearances as expected at the start of the season.
The south coast club has an option to buy Cantwell permanently if they choose, but following promotion to the Premier League, local media and speciation around the club suggests he will be heading back to Norfolk at the end of the season.
It is unclear exactly why Cantwell went out on loan, relationships with Daniel Farke and Dean Smith appeared to break down as Cantwell had fewer and fewer chances in the first team.
A one-year contract extension has been recently triggered on his contract, suggesting a decision has been made or will need to be made about his future at the club depending on Smith’s first-team plans.
Josh Martin made nine first-team appearances in the Championship last year with Norwich and was rewarded with loan moves to MK Dons and Doncaster where he has made a combined 25 appearances across the season.
Playing on the left wing for both MK Dons and Doncaster, Martin may provide good backup in the Championship if Smith decides to stick with wingers in the Championship next season, or if summer signing Milot Rashica is to depart the club.
One of the standout weaknesses of the Canaries’ performance this season has been the centre-back partnership. Ten different combinations at the back while playing with four at the back have leaked the most goals in the league, and Smith will certainly be looking to fix this ahead of the start of next season.
The partnership of Ben Gibson and Grant Hanley has been relied on fairly regularly across the season, but Gibson has slipped from the thoughts of Smith when it comes to selection in recent weeks.
Natural full-back Sam Byram has been favoured out of position rather than Gibson.
This is certainly an area in which Smith will look to strengthen in the transfer window, with loanees Rocky Bushiri and Akin Famewo looking unlikely to break into the first team.
After a relegation, a big change in the squad is to be expected, and with uncertainty surrounding the club’s finances and backing, Smith may well turn to loanees in certain areas.
Last night I watched the Inverness v Arbroath game via the BBC stream.
Inverness have a really combative midfielder who can get up and down the pitch at a decent pace; can tackle, head the ball, can pass it (frequently to a team mate), and has one heck of a shot on him.
His name? Reece McAleer, who has been getting great reviews for much of this season and is on loan there from us.
His contract with NCFC runs out at the end of this season, and it seems he will have no problem finding a new club. If stories coming from Colney are to be believed we appear not to be interested in keeping him.
Yet another story of how NCFC have completely lost the plot!
O T B C
Two sides to a negotiation. One to offer and one to accept, if he knows he will get lots of offers and thinks he will get guaranteed first team football and stay in Scotland, maybe he wants it that way. The other point might be a feeling that Scottish championship quality is not wanted?
The quality of the bottom half of the Scottish PL is roughly that of the middle to bottom of the English Championship with the Scottish Championship being broadly League 1 (and lower) equivalent. Just because McLear is tearing it up at that level doe snot mean that he is good enough for City’s English Championship squad – he might be but he very well might not be and Smith and Shakespeare are in the best position to judge whether they want him back.
A certain Mr Lafferty has just starred in Kilmarnock’s Championship winning team and I would not want him back on our team.
Alot of sorting out of players thats for sure.Only Sianni,Mcallum and Mclear have had any success out on loan and you would think they could be in smudger’s plans,but what do you do with the rest?out on loan again to free up some wages?Sell?I would like to see a whole new midfield for next season and a new striker,maybe a quality cb also.The squad needs a makeover,though due to our lack of finances i cant see it happening.
Louis, a calm and sensible look at the possibilities for next season in the Chump. It‘ll be interesting to see if the likes of our American NCO will fair better in this league.
Louis it is going to be interesting times ahead.
I wouldn’t be in a hurry to blame Daniel Farke or Dean Smith for the Todd Cantwell situation.
While we shouldn’t jump to conclusions I feel Todd must look at himself. The lad may have personal problems and I have had a bit of a funny month myself health wise and it does knock you back.
It could also be about money, quite a few players have come in probably on a lot more than Todd. But sorry Todd that’s life.
Whatever the reason this is Todd’s career and unless he has lost his love for the game and wants to drift out of the game, which he is on course to do, then he must sort it out or if he can’t himself then ask for help.
Reading between the lines Farke seemed to indicate that Todd was missing training with a variety of reasons/excuses. Dean tried his hardest to get Todd on side, and just look how Todd rewarded him with that first half performance against Southampton.
He has now failed to command a regular place in a Championship team which is quite frankly astonishing.
He says he loves Norwich City FC, time to show it.
Don’t forget Akin Famewo who has been on loan at Charlton this season (and much of last). Speaking to a friend who is a Charlton fan, they’ve been impressed by him at centre-half – athletic, quick, good on the ball. Progess has at times been a bit stop start due to injuries but generally been good – talk of Charlton having an option to purchase.
Not sure we’ll be looking for any new central defenders. For the Championship, the options of Grant Hanley, Ben Gibson, Andrew Omobamidele and Christoph Zimmermann look pretty strong.
The Premier League is a different matter, of course….
Full-back will be an interesting position, esp if we cash in on Max Aarons. No doubt Smith & Shakespeare will take a close look at Bali Mumba and Sam McCallum. It would be a big help if either or both can offer what we require.
Hi Louis
An interesting read
Sinani will sign for Huddesfield so we lose him for peanuts
Famewo not sure what will happen at Charlton they have an option to buy but Johnny Jackson lost his job so they may not take it up.
Bushiri is similar to Famewo up in Scotland
Reece McAlear has said on numerous occasions that he is waiting to hear what city want to do, it will soon be out of their hands and his agent might already have a club or 2 lined up for him.
Most of those that went out haven’t had the number of games to make big strides in their career but since Adams left the loans management to become Webber goffer the system under Hughs seems to have slowled down or some loanee’s went to the wrong club.
Only time will tell