Football Season Guide

Premier League

England

Premier League

2013/2014

Norwich City

In

Ricky van Wolfswinkel (att), Sporting), Martin Olsson (def), Blackburn), Carlo Nash (gk), Stoke), Nathan Redmond (mid), Birmingham), Leroy Fer (mid), FC Twente), Gary Hooper (att), Celtic)

Out

Marc Tierney (def), Bolton), Tom Adeyemi (mid), Birmingham), Elliott Ward (def), Bournemouth), Korey Smith (mid), Oldham), Lee Camp (gk), George Francomb (def), AFC Wimbledon), Declan Rudd (gk), Preston - loan), Jed Steer (gk), Aston Villa), Andrew Surman (mid), Bournemouth - loan), James Vaughan (att), Huddersfield), Grant Holt (att), Wigan), Simeon Jackson (att), Eintracht Braunschweig)

Norwich City managed to survive at the end of last season and can look back on a generally satisfying campaign. It was always going to be a test for Chris Hughton to follow the footsteps of the highly popular and successful Paul Lambert but the Irishman certainly made his mark over the course of the last 12 months at Carrow Road and now no one can say that he is feeding off from the work done by Lamberts. The team has the lookout of a Hughton team, based on solid defending and good play on the wings. Norwich managed to save themselves due to their great form between October and December though as there is no hiding from the fact that they were extremely frugal and poor for most of 2013 so far. The fact that there were two very poor teams in QPR and Reading was the main reason the Canaries actually saved themselves having won just twice from early December to May. Hughton realised that during the summer and that is why Norwich have had a very exciting and pretty productive transfer campaign. The two main buys were Dutch duo Ricky Wolfswinkel and Leroy Fer. The former is the man expected to bring the goals this season after Grant Hot endured a frustrating campaign last season and was moved out to Wigan in the summer. The Dutchman was great for Sporting Lisbon over the last two season and there is no reason why he will not be a success. He also has a great cover in fellow new signing Gary Hooper who was unstoppable for Celtic in recent season. Fer is a player of good pedigree and one that was very close to joining Everton in January. He is a box-to-box energetic player who will surely bring up the quality of the squad. Nathan Redmond and Marcus Olsson are two good signings too and there is certainly more depth and quality in the group. How they will fit together and work as a team remains to be seen with the likes of Roberto Snodgrass and Sebastien Bassong facing the challenge of maintaining the high level of last season. If the team remains as solid at the back as last season, they should be able to beat the drop.

Target

Improved on the last season's squad considerably and that should be enough to keep them up even though it may be a close call.