It isn’t always the case that the first player signed in the summer is the area of highest priority, but with Isaac Hayden being the first through the doors at Coleny this summer it has panned out that way.
Norwich’s midfield in 21/22 was horribly open and the lack of a truly defensive midfielder a glaring omission throughout the season. In Hayden there is now someone who will sit and do the destructive work needed at the base of midfield and provide a screen in front of the back four.
A mainstay in Bruce’s very conservative 5–3–2 formation at Newcastle, but after Howe arrived he found it harder to get game time. Hayden’s season, and what look like his Newcastle career, ultimately curtailed by needing surgery on a knee injury that was sustained in the previous season.
Hayden’s strongest season at Newcastle was probably 2020/21, his defensive style suited Bruce’s tactics and his lack of ability on the ball wasn’t really highlighted in a system that was so conservative. With Howe wanting to move to a more progressive style of play Hayden was always going to be a casualty, especially with Newcastle’s financial power to upgrade everywhere across the pitch. It wasn’t though not a new signing that took his place, but the emergence of Joelinton as a ball winning midfielder.
Hayden’s touch map from last season (see below) highlights how dedicated he is to the defensive work rather than looking to make an impact further up the pitch. Again this is partially system related, Bruce wanted an incredibly low block which led to their players being deep within their own half for much of the game.
As a domestic signing Hayden is a well known player, he is good at defensive actions and also a strong aerial presence — both weaknesses in Norwich’s current squad. He has plenty of Championship and Premier League experience and should be able to immediately slip into the Norwich team without much fuss. His signing is also a pretty clear indicator that this transfer window could be very different to others, this is not a player that Farke would have countenanced while at Norwich. Hayden’s lack of on the ball ability is fairly clear and he is a very limited passer of the ball, even more so than Tettey who Farke looked to cast out of the team on his arrival (only to then come to rely on later, as well as dramatically improving his passing). 21/22 was Hayden’s best Premier League season for pass completion, with it topping 80% success rate for the first time, it still highlights a player who is limited at best in that aspect of the game.
It feels that Hayden may have also been brought in for his ‘intangibles’. Sometimes consider a bit of a dirty word in the analytics community, ‘intangibles’ represents a players character and determination, his ‘passion’. These are qualities that are both over-hyped and under-appreciated depending on who is talking about them. Smith has mentioned several times the need to change the mentality in Norwich’s dressing room, and Hayden could well be seen as one of the new architects of this collective shift. The news of his transfer to Norwich was followed mostly by comments from Newcastle fans to his attitude, rather than his footballing ability. That’s not to say he is a bad player, although he is probably one who has found that his reputation has been improved by his image as a ‘proper footballer’.
Hayden will likely be a good signing for Norwich, his ability level is somewhere between top of the Championship/struggling Premier League team. A lot will rest on whether he has recovered from knee surgery that he had in December 2021 to fix a niggling injury he’d picked up earlier in the year, he hasn’t played a first team game since then after not being registered in Newcastle’s squad after the January transfer window. His signing makes some hints to how Norwich intend to play, you don’t sign Hayden if you hope to play a possession based game.
The signing also appears to be more led by Smith personally and there are reports that this will be a theme throughout the window. Whether allowing Smith to drive the window when he has yet really impressed in his 7 months at Norwich is questionable, you’d imagine if Norwich aren’t looking in a position to challenge for automatic places by Christmas then Smith will be removed and a new coach, will be in the position to work with the previous coach’s players. This is exactly what having a Sporting Director in place is suppose to avoid.
