The latest Todd Cantwell rumour – and I expect there are more to come – is that Blackburn Rovers are looking to take him to the north-west on a season-long loan.
The report emanated from The S*n’s so-called transfer expert Alan Nixon who declared that their new head coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson, has highlighted Cantwell as someone who could help propel Rovers from a midtable Championship team to one challenging for top six or better.
One particular link between Blackburn and Cantwell that will have got Nixon’s juices flowing is the fact that Rovers’ new sporting director is one Gregg Broughton – brother of Drewe (remember him?) but who, more significantly, was Head of Academy Recruitment at City until he departed in 2018.
He will have been there for the Cantwell glory years and will have watched him progress from promising youngster to first-team regular via a season’s loan at Fortuna Sittard. He’ll have seen Dereham’s finest at his best.
And I’m guessing, like just about every manager who’s ever taken on board an errant but talented player – either on loan or on a permanent – Tomasson believes he can be the one to get a tune out of a player who’s promised a lot but who has underdelivered.
It’s a brave boast but they all do it.
Whether or not we’ll find out if the Dane can succeed where Daniel Farke, Dean Smith and Scott Parker have failed remains to be seen, but if any type of deal did come to fruition it would be odd to see Cantwell depart for a team that is fairly likely to be one of our promotion rivals.
And, taking a step back, and if we ignore all of the stuff that’s supposedly gone on that only an elite few know about, which club at the moment would offer Todd the more attractive career path?
It’s frustrating.
There’s a really good player in there – we know, we’ve seen him – and if that player were to return, then he would be a huge asset to Dean Smith over the coming season. It would, as the terrible cliché goes, be like having a new player in the squad.
There’s a lot of surmising going on here of course. I’ve heard the rumours but in reality, I don’t have the foggiest idea what went on behind the scenes and what led to such a sudden and dramatic fall from grace.
All I know is if there’s even a chance that Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare can wipe the slate clean and try and tap into the Canwell of 2019-20 and 2020-21, then Norwich City Football Club would be better off for it.
If the point of no return has already been reached, or if there’s no chance whatsoever that those heights can be reached again by the player while he’s wearing a yellow shirt, then the parting of the ways that seem inevitable has to happen.
That City took up the option to extend Cantwell’s contract by another year, predominantly to protect his market value, merely adds to the uncertainty. Any deal for a season-long loan could not be tied in with a fee at the end of it – as was the case with the Bournemouth loan – as by the end of next season he’ll be out of contract again.
Quite how this ends I have no idea. Much of it depends on the mindset of the player and how determined he is to make a new life and a new career for himself away from Norfolk.
In an ideal world, he gets his head together, gets himself super-fit and returns to Colney determined to prove the doubters wrong. But this isn’t an ideal world.
Either way, I hope he finds some happiness… and a few goals.
The contract situation is a bit of a conundrum. If he goes out on loan, and hits the heights he’s capable of, we loose an asset for nothing when he’s out of contract. If we keep him, and he hits those heights, we can either negotiate a deal with him to stay (if he’s happy), or we can get a realistic fee for him. If he stays, and doesn’t perform, then he’s a drain on our resources and potentially an unsettling factor in the squad. Who’d be a football manager or director of football?
In the Championship he has already proved himself. The goal he scored at Sheffield Wednesday was quite possibly the goal of that championship campaign..
I sincerely hope to see Todd playing in yellow & green at Carrow Road this coming season,
He’s got the skill, physically he’s a bit lightweight, but his attitude has been a mess. His last loan was a chance to show his doubters were wrong, a golden opportunity, but it went pear shaped so what now? How many lads would love to get his chance for a brilliant career? A three times loser or a temporary blip? Hope he makes it but I have my doubts.
Hi Gary
As you say a loan out is absolutely no use to NCFC whatsoever, but if things between player and club are really that bad we may have to bite that particular bullet.
You’re quite right not to delve into the rumours surrounding young Todd because as you say even now very few people outside Todd’s innser sanctum will know the truth.
If the one I would put my money on happens to be true then I am very happy to cut Todd some slack in this case. I know how difficult it is to turn up for work and be enthusiastic with a dirty great black cloud floating above your head, whatever that job happens to be.
Let’s hope the issue gets resolved to the benefit of all concerned, particularly TC himself.
The pink un article on this subject states that Blackburn have no money and cannot afford to contribute to cantwells salary.
So, in essence we are likely to extend cantwells contract for a season. Then loan him to a divisional rival while continuing to pay his wage until he is freely available to join them or anyone else for free and gratis.
Since it would take a congenital idiot to sanction such a move I suspect this story has very little veracity.
Put like that, it’s a nobrainer. He has to stay and prove himself, Blackburn is clearly not a viable option, if they really can’t pay his wages. If S&S can’t get him going, he’s a write off for the club. I hope he can find that spark again, for his sake and the club’s.
The rumour this end is that the Venkys have told the manager £3m+ and money he can generate in sales is his budget.
No loans will get an up front payment and only 25/40% of their salary will be paid.
Mowbray and Venus left after not extending their contract as they were asked to take large cuts in pay.
Cantwell could add to a small squad as no player who is out of contract has been offered new terms.
More protests from the long suffering Blackburn supporters I am told by a friend in Blackpool.
I would say then that that effectively rules out Blackburn Alex.
Morning Gary,
Todd the enigma, get his wages off our books seems to me the most sensible thing. Like you I don’t know what has gone on with his recent past, however he doesn’t appear to be able to separate his working life from his private life. Norwich have a duty of care to its employees which I have no reason to believe it would not have carried out. Equally the employee, very well remunerated in this case has a duty to carry out his contractual duties to the best of his ability. It certainly seems to me that the point of no return has been reached.
Norwich do not have the luxury to squander money on Todd when someone else could be brought in.
Everyone seems to be great talent when you read british managers comments about british players. Everyone is the best ever and amazing player. In reality it seems obvious that Cantwell benefits a lot when he had chance to play with Pukki and Buendia. Its not surprising that Cantwells chance to not play for Norwich is a loan deal again. There is no money to pay transfer fees. Cantwell has 1 season left of his contract and the player wants to leave. Pukki and Cantwell are going to force Norwich to let them leave this summer. You cant keep players who do not want to stay, Norwich gets an offer and cant do anything else than accept it. If an offer is a loan, its better than nothing. Situation where Pukki and Cantwell does not play but Norwich pays their salaries is idiotic also to Norwich. Buendia forced himself away, this is exactly the same situation and this kind of situation is happening in football all the time.
The Cantwell Conundrum as exactly that, a conundrum. We can only speculate why almost overnight he changed from a happy-to-be-here star playing wonderful football and full of confidence to a despondent want-away with increasingly dwindling powers. Perhaps he started to believe the hype and asked for a move and it was rejected by City? Or a move that was promised and didn’t materialise because City’s valuation wasn’t met? Who knows. But for his sake he seems a decent lad so I hope he gets his tools back on the right hooks and fulfils his potential as a footballer, whether here or elsewhere. Good luck Todd.
Like Martin Gary I do think we should tread carefully on this one, there are so many rumours going around.
One of the contributors on here awhile ago gave a insight as to what Todd was like in his younger days and it wasn’t complimentary. And I do think it therefore fair to say Todd does like to get his own way and hasn’t always behaved well to other people.
While he is not hear to defend himself it does paint a picture of a person who has issues.
I have been critical of Todd Cantwell, his display first half against Southampton for instance, but I am sure deep down he knows that was unacceptable.
What is difficult to fathom is what happened to Todd at Bournemouth ?
He seemed to be really enjoying himself at the start but again somehow it all ended with Todd not even in the squad on occasions. And that in a nutshell is where we are with Todd at this moment in time. And that is struggling to get into a Championship side.
The Blackburn link I hope is a joke as it seems financially stupid, unless the trust between Todd and the club and vice versa has totally gone and he is going to run the final year of his contract down without putting any effort in then I am afraid Blackburn or any other club should pay his wages in full..
I just wonder if Stuart Webber was to leave then Todd may come around, there was that dig by SW aimed at Todd at the previous EPL relegation when Todd was sitting on the pitch at Carrow Road on relegation day.
Is it players coming and getting more money ? Or has Todd just lost his interest in football ?
His performances last season were not as bad as some would make out.He was dropped for fitness and training reasons and has struggled to catch up. Dean Smith gave him very little time and he performs better for a team that can get the ball out of their own half.
He has now been part of four promotions in five seasons.Nobody at Norwich has had a marvellous season,particularly the players who looked so good at first and I can’t see this as a coincidence. Todd has always attracted criticism from some of the fans here and I can see it as a reason for him not to stay.Sad because he is probably the most talented player that our academy has produced.
Find the biggest skip you can find and dump him in there. Has been selfish for now 3 seasons and 2 sets of management.
His loss of form and favour is not that unusual. Football is full of promising 20 year olds who didn’t push on and we’ve also had our fair share. If paying his wages was a concern we wouldn’t have taken up the option on his contract. This quite sudden fall does happen to even very good players – Deli Ali; Van de Beek etc.
No one knows what the background is, we just have to trust that the club does what it can to make the most it can if his heart is set on a move away. His failure at Bournemouth was a big surprise – Parker is no fool, and he obviously expected more from him, whether in work rate or ability, or both. Smith will presumably still want to give him a preseason to see where he is. It’s way too soon to give up on him.
Hi Gary
A good analysis of Cantwell as most will see him.
He could leave and suddenly find his form or like the Murphy twins make drift along at another club, Jacob seems to be finding a bit more playing time at Newcastle while Josh looks like joining Sunderland on a free transfer from Cardiff but city got a fee for both.
Is it 3 managers that are wrong or something in his character that’s holding him back, surely who ever his agent is should whisper sweet nothings in his ears and tell him at present a move to a big club isn’t on the cards but then I heard last year it was his parents controlling his future career moves bad idea just ask Harry Kane who’s agents are his Dad and brother and they messed up his move last summer.
Todd still flies around Dereham using the leisure Centre where family member works, so good to see him using local amenities. What happened is kept in-house for a reason, like any disagreements anyone has with employers and rightly so.
Sadly the days when he could have commanded a decent fee look to be over, Parker saw something was missing in the lad’s play or attitude despite the press statements Cantwell made on signing the loan deal. Other clubs would be watching this and possibly have made their minds up. Hence a loan deal from a club that was once at the top. (no disrespects to Rovers or fans) Think that speaks more than words, sure the word flies around the scouts, managers etc. Now I have said there will be an offer for him.
As a player he was OK, never did it for me, was too inconsistent and went invisible too much. but when on his day or in the right mind you could see the potential.
Whatever your views, a situation has risen and needs sorting out for all concerned