No longer 'going to war without a gun': The inside story of Norwich's 11 new summer signings

When Norwich City were last relegated from the Premier League, in July 2020, their season was described as “going to war without a gun” after a spend of just £1.2 million.

This time, however, there is little doubt that Daniel Farke has been supplied with ammunition and Norwich are fighting back to end their unwanted reputation as English football’s ‘yo-yo club’.

It may come as a surprise to some of their detractors, but Norwich were the most active Premier League club in the summer transfer window: a league-high 11 senior signings were recruited with over £45 million invested.

This weekend Norwich will face the biggest spenders, Arsenal, and despite three successive league defeats there remains confidence internally that Farke will never have a better chance of survival.

After such a drastic recruitment drive, Farke is expected to now compete with the likes of Brentford, Watford, Burnley, Newcastle and Southampton.

Norwich’s transfer business was planned meticulously, long before the Championship title was lifted, with sporting director Stuart Webber and Farke at the forefront.

Long-term targets previously unattainable came into reach due to the impact of Covid-19 on football’s finances. Norwich have acted swiftly and decisively to provide Farke with two players for every position.

Crucially, they also avoided major disruption to their squad with only one key player, Emiliano Buendia, sold this summer.

Borussia Dortmund made a late bid to sign right-back Max Aarons the day before the deadline but the proposal of a loan deal, with an option to buy, was instantly rejected.

While Aarons has remained at Carrow Road, the sale of Buendia to Aston Villa was pivotal to Norwich’s transfer strategy.

Villa paid an initial £33 million for the Argentina international, after whirlwind negotiations which started on 4 June and ended the following day.

Norwich were happy to let Buendia go for the right price as that is the club’s model. Villa’s conduct during talks was also far more respectful than the tortuous negotiations they endured last October with Everton’s director of football Marcel Brands over the sale of Ben Godfrey. Buendia also wanted to leave.

While there can be no revisionism over Buendia’s role in their recent history, for at least 12 months there was a regular flow of messages stating his desire to quit the club and, at times, it was difficult to manage.

Buendia’s sale enabled Norwich to quickly press ahead with their own spending plans.

Milot Rashica, the Kosovo international, was the record capture at £9.4 million from Werder Bremen, who were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time in 41 years last season.

Rashica has been on Norwich’s radar since his time with Vitesse Arnhem, but any deal was out of bounds due to the price tag. Werder’s relegation finally made it possible for Norwich to move this summer.

They have high hopes for the 25 year-old, though also recognising there is some risk attached: Rashica performed poorly last season, with only three goals and one assist, and is being given a platform to jump-start his career back into life.

Another major signing was Christos Tzolis for £9 million from Greek club PAOK. Norwich’s academy scouts have been aware of Tzolis for some time, regularly watching him in under-17 matches, so when he broke into the first-team the groundwork had already been done.

Last season, the winger was the second highest under-20s scorer in Europe, behind only Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.

Data and analytics are key to Norwich’s recruitment. Josh Sargent, a £9 million buy from Werder Bremen, caught the eye due to his running stats “being off the charts” - it was one of those instances where the data blew Norwich away and made them appreciate the forward more than actually watching him play ‘live’.

Away from the statistics and numbers, persistence can also be rewarded in the final days of a transfer window.

Ozan Kabak was Norwich’s last arrival, and arguably the most important at centre-half. He spent the second half of last season at Liverpool and was targeted by Norwich as a priority.

Also relegated from the Bundesliga, Schalke had insisted for much of the summer that they only wanted a sale. Weeks and weeks of haggling followed with Rouven Schröder, Schalke’s sporting director.

Ten days before the deadline, the stance shifted and a loan with an option to sign Kabak for £11.5 million was agreed two days before the deadline.

Lee Dunn, Norwich’s new head of recruitment, had worked on the deal for almost six months, negotiating with Kabak’s agent, and that commitment paid off.

A Turkey international, Kabak is expected to play some part against Arsenal on Saturday.

There have been other notable new arrivals. Billy Gilmour, the Chelsea midfielder and Scotland international, signed for the season on loan and there is already a huge buzz around his progress.

Chelsea chose Norwich for Gilmour’s development due to their style of football under Farke, the club’s reputation for stability and improvement of young players.

Mathias Normann was another midfielder to sign, joining on loan from Russian club Rostov, and the Norwegian is already highly regarded in the Premier League: he was close to signing for Leicester in January until Rostov torpedoed the deal shortly before the deadline.

Brandon Williams, the left-back, was brought in from Manchester United on loan.

Ben Gibson completed his permanent £7 million move from Burnley after making 27 appearances on loan in the Championship. Angus Gunn, the son of former Norwich goalkeeper Bryan, has also returned to compete with Tim Krul.

Norwich also moved to trim Farke’s squad by offloading players who the club has ‘outgrown’, such as Marco Stiepermann, Timm Klose, Tom Trybull, Onel Hernández and Jordan Hugill.

Farke’s reshaped squad will take on Arsenal at the Emirates in a match that has already taken on huge significance, especially for Mikel Arteta. Some have cruelly branded it a “relegation six-pointer”.

Patience will be required, and of course there are no guarantees Norwich will avoid relegation. Yet if they do go down, nobody can accuse them of a lack of ambition.