Norwich City Football Club

2018-19 Championship Finish: 1st Place (Promoted)

2019-20 Premier League Prediction: 16th Place

Transfers In:

Daniel Adshead MF - Rochdale, Undisclosed

Josip Drmic FW - Borussia Mochengladbach, Free Agent

Charlie Gilmour MF - Arsenal, Free Agent

Sam Byram DF - West Ham United, Undisclosed

Transfers Out:

Marcel Franke DF - Hannover 96, Undisclosed

Steven Naismith FW - Free Agent

Ivo Pinto DF - Dinamo Zagreb, Free Agent

Yanic Wildschut FW - Maccabi Haifa, Free Agent

Nelson Oliveira FW - AEK Athens, Undisclosed

Norwich City returns to the Premier League for the third time this decade after being crowned champions in the Championship division last year. Their latest absence from the Premier League lasted 3 seasons and Norwich fans will surely be hoping that this run in the Premier League is longer than last time. Norwich is the ultimate up and down team, spending 5 out of the last 10 season in the Championship and 5 in the Premier League, with 3 promotions and 2 relegations. Can Norwich City make it stick this time? Norwich are entering their third season under head coach Daniel Farke. Farke who was a former Borussia Dortmund Academy coach, improved greatly last year in his 2nd season taking the club from 14th place to 1st. Norwich have managed to hang onto the majority of their team, which seems to be German rather than English, but have also done little to add their squad too. Worst case scenario for Norwich is obviously relegation. I think they’ll be fighting it most of the season and will secure safety with a few matches left. Best case scenario for Norwich has to be around 14th. Can’t see them reaching much higher, but you never know maybe this squad is cut out for the Premier League the way it is.

Strength:

Their attacking midfield. Norwich City set the Championship ablaze last year with a league leading 93 goals. And while Teemu Pukki (good lord what a cool name) was the leading scorer on Norwich and throughout the whole league with 29 goals, he’s also 29 years old and has never had a season that great in his career, so I’m very skeptical that he can even replicate half of that this year in the Premier League. But I’m definitely rooting for him though. Outside of Pukki’s 29 goals, Norwich’s attacking midfield really carried the load. Norwich had 4 midfielders with 8 or more goals last year. Most teams are lucky to have 2 midfielders putting up near double digit goals, but to have 4 is outstanding. Mario Vrancic, Marco Stiepermann, Emiliano Buendia and Onel Hernandez were the main 4 that contributed to the attack. I really hope to see some exciting, attacking football from Norwich this year, as most newly promoted teams tend to play defensive instead, so it’s going to be interesting to see.

Weakness:

Norwich OwnersCredit: Eastern Daily Express — Norwich Owners
Credit: Eastern Daily Express

Ownership. Now i’m not saying that ownership doesn’t do a good job with scouting and bringing in quality players for the price but what Norwich has done over the past few years in the transfer window is astonishing. Is the club trying to pay off a debt that I’m not aware of? Each of the last 3 seasons, Norwich have had a positive net cash flow when it came to transfers. Year in and year out, Norwich are selling more than they buy. Over the past 3 seasons, they are a total of around £57 million to the good. This season is the first time in 3 years that their expenditures eclipse the income they’ve generated from sells, and that’s by a whopping £2.5 million. I mean it’s a great business model that you can generate this much income from selling your players and still get promoted. But now your in the league with the big boys, where the last place team from this past season made over £95 million in prize money. So why in the world would you not spend money on players to ensure you get this return year in and year out. Be cheap, be frugal and return to the Championship division where the money isn’t near that good.

Top Goalscorer Predictions:

Teemu Pukki: 13 goals

Mario Vrancic: 8 goals

Josip Drmic: 6 goals

Home Kit: Not a big fan of the color transition. Norwich has good colors, just can’t get into this one. I’d pass on buying it if I were a Norwich fan.