With Norwich’s promotion to the Premier League comes the need for a little bit of squad strengthening. After promotion in 2019, Norwich made the conscious choice to not spend big, to reward the players that got Norwich promoted with the chance to prove themselves capable in the Premier League. The club talked about survival being akin to ‘climbing Everest’ or needing a miracle. As we know it didn’t go well and Webber’s much quoted soundbite of ‘going to war without a gun’ has become the snappy definition of the season.
Now in 2021, the mood music from the club is significantly different, Farke has talked more about how the club have a much better chance of survival, and it seems the club are prepared to look for new players across the whole team.
I felt it would be fun to look at potential players, that I believe could help Norwich survive. It must be said that I have gone for a slightly more obscure list of players as that is probably more enjoyable to read that just suggesting the normal cast of signings. Harrison Reed, Denis Man and Will Vaulks will not appear.
I have done some sense checking with this list, conducted back of envelope calculations regarding work permits and tried to filter out players who are likely to cost excessive amounts of money, wages or lack interest in joining Norwich. I fully accept that I may have missed some key information why it is not possible to sign these players.
This is the first of three of these such posts, in this one I shall concentrate on defenders. A couple of assumptions I am working on is that Max Aarons is likely to leave, requiring Norwich to bring in a new right back and that a new centre back is also a position that will be strengthened.
- Michael Murillo; 25; Right back; Anderlecht
Panama international Michael Murillo has enjoyed a very good season with Anderlecht in Belgium and possesses many of the traits that Daniel Farke wants to see in his full backs. Known for taking up attacking positions from right back in Anderlecht’s 4–2–3–1. He fulfils a similar role as Aarons currently does at Norwich and has 4 goals this season as a result. While Murillo attempts half the number of dribbles than Aarons per game he has a slightly higher success rate (64%) and at 183cm (6ft) Murillo is a effective in both defensive and offensive set piece situations.
Where he needs to improve in on retaining possession, he can often take overly risky passes in attacking areas resulting in turnovers to opposing players. This is also a sign of his desire to create chances and progress play, but more composure on the ball would be a significant benefit to his game. However, Murillo has similar numbers in passing accuracy to Aarons (83% compared to 84%) overall so it could be a case of improving decision making.
Overall, Murillo is a good, all round full back. He has great offensive instincts and often finds himself in good positions in the opposition third, while he needs to improve in certain defensive aspects, his size and speed means he can compensate from occasional poor positioning or mistakes in 1 on 1s.
2. Pablo Maffeo; 23, Right back; SD Huesca (on loan from VfB Stuttgart)
Former Man City right back Pablo Maffeo is probably more of a like for like compared to Max Aarons. Although he transferred to Stuttgart in 2018, Maffeo has mostly played in Spain on loan at Girona or more recently SD Huesca. He is more commonly played as a wing back, but can also play full back.
He has been one of the brightest performers at a struggling Huesca this season and is one of their most creative players with 4 assists so far for the season, most of which have come from crosses from the right hand side. Maffeo also possess some of the best dribbling statistics for his position in La Liga as well as above average key passes. He is roughly average in the league for progressive carries and shot creation, but his passing is somewhat wayward and he especially struggles with progressive passing. This is partly due to Huesca’s play style though and he could likely improve on these areas in a more possession based style.
His defensive game is also of a good quality, Lionel Messi singled him out as the most difficult to play against due to Maffeo’s impressive man-marking. There is work to do on his tackling ability where he can be prone to diving in, but he has good positional awareness in general. Whether Stuttgart will allow him to leave is another matter and he is likely to be in demand in Spain after this season.
3. Nino; 24; Centre back; Fluminense
Straight off the bat I’m going to say this one is a bit of a stretch. Norwich’s starting centre backs of Hanley and Gibson have both had outstanding seasons but a third option is desperately needed. There have already been links with a host of defenders, and in Ajer and Doekhi there are players I think would both fit well into Norwich’s system and provide great competition to the position. Doekhi in particular would be an astute signing.
In order to add a name that is a little more unknown I have picked Nino who is currently playing in Brazil. He is a regular for Fluminense and represented Brazil’s U23s on 5 occasions. New work permit rules mean that this is a market that is now far more open to British clubs and we could see several players taking the not so common route of coming straight from the Brazilian leagues to the Premier League.
Nino has everything Norwich want in a centre back, he is especially comfortable on the ball and is often tasked with with starting attacks through forwarded passing. Nino has a 76% accuracy rate when passing into the final third, which is better than both Ben Gibson (68%) and Grant Hanley (65%) have shown at Norwich this season. Nino’s passing in general is excellent (91% accuracy) and he will look to progress play when possible. While more reluctant to makes runs forward out of defence (averaging less than 1 progressive dribble per game compared to Gibson’s 3), he does possess the technical ability to do so. He is solid defensively, winning two thirds of all his aerial duels and defensive duels and is positionally aware making over 5 interceptions on average per game.
With only 18 months left on his contract Fluminense may be looking to cash in on Nino but there is likely to be competition for his signature. Benfica have reportedly been interested in him previously hence why I prefaced this as a ‘bit of a stretch’, especially as Norwich have never had any dealings with South American clubs and the restriction on travel due to the pandemic makes such a signing even more difficult.
