£1.5m Norwich City’s signing suffered a fairly swift fall from glory after arriving at Carrow Road.

£1.5m Norwich City signing had a very quick fall from grace after arriving at Carrow Road.

During his tenure as Norwich City manager, Daniel Farke had a good track record in the transfer market.

Farke, who had previously managed in Germany’s lower leagues, arrived at Carrow Road as a relative unknown when he was named Alex Neil’s permanent replacement in May 2017, but he quickly made an impression.

After a poor first season, the German went on to produce two Championship titles for Norwich in 2019 and 2021. While failing to keep the team in the Premier League, he will always be warmly regarded in Norfolk.

Recruitment was a key factor in Farke’s success, with Tim Krul, Christoph Zimmermann, Mario Vrancic, Kenny McLean, Marco Stiepermann, Emi Buendia, and Teemu Pukki joining the Canaries during his tenure and quickly becoming fan favourites.

However, Webber and Farke did not always get it right in the transfer market, and winger Ben Marshall will be remembered as one of those who simply did not work out.

Ben Marshall’s recruitment did not work out for Norwich City.

After finishing 14th in his first year in leadership, Farke oversaw a reconstruction in the summer of 2018, when Marshall joined Krul, Buendia, and Pukki at Carrow Road.

Marshall moved to Norwich for £1.5 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a four-year contract. With his Championship experience, he was viewed as a desirable signing for the team at a cheap price.

Ben Marshall’s stats prior to Norwich City move (as per Transfermarkt)
Club Appearances Goals Assists
Northampton Town (loan) 19 2 2
Cheltenham Town (loan) 6 2 1
Carlisle United (loan) 61 8 8
Sheffield Wednesday (loan) 22 5 6
Leicester City 61 9 18
Blackburn Rovers 140 15 12
Wolverhampton Wanderers 25 2 4
Millwall (loan) 32 4 5

Marshall earned his reputation during loan spells at Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers, but he had fallen out of favour at Wolves under Nuno Espirito Santo, so he arrived in Norfolk with a point to prove.

Marshall appeared to be resuming his career with the Canaries after starting the first four games of the 2018-19 season as a right-back. However, he was abruptly dropped by Farke and was routinely kept out of the matchday squad in the following months.

Marshall struggled to re-enter the starting lineup as Norwich improved and became a strong contender for automatic promotion.

Marshall made his first appearance in over four months in the FA Cup third round against Portsmouth in early January. However, it was not the start of a turnaround in fortunes for the former England youth international, as it turned out to be his last appearance in a Canaries shirt.

Marshall joined Millwall on loan less than two weeks later, as he had done in the previous January transfer window during his spell at Wolves. His contract with Norwich was dissolved by mutual consent in the summer following their promotion to the Premier League.

Marshall only appeared six times for the Canaries and provided one assist, making him a costly transfer mistake for the club, but it would subsequently be revealed that there were deeper reasons for his problems at Carrow Road.

Read more news on https://sportupdates.co.uk/

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*