Marcelino Nunez’s hamstring injury scare could force Norwich City into a transfer window move.
The Chilean international left in the second half of Brighton’s 4-0 FA Cup third-round defeat and is scheduled for scans at Colney on Sunday.
However, with fellow central midfielders Anis Ben Slimane, Jacob Sorensen, Liam Gibbs, and Gabe Forsyth also out, head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup understands the Canaries may need to act.
“It’s not on that part of the pitch where we have too many players available, so potentially something we have to look at,” he told me. “But, of course, we have to be realistic about our current situation as a club. We don’t have endless means to go out and acquire players, so we need to come up with ideas and solutions, and perhaps some of the others will take a positive step.
“This is a tricky question. “I need an overview of which players are ready, but we are a little low on numbers, especially in midfield, with not only Anis and Marcelino probably out, but also Lunghi, Gabe, and Liam Gibbs.” Marcelino’s injury was perhaps the worst story of the game. We need to wait and see. We need to analyze him and take a careful look at what it is. We need to wait for the scans. Sometimes small injuries occur. It can be somewhat larger, smaller, or somewhere in the middle. However, it is the other hamstring to the one he experienced earlier in the season.”
So far this window, City has signed Lewis Dobbin on loan from Aston Villa, and Thorup revealed on Saturday that he is looking for another wide player, with fresh claims of a breakthrough in a potential €7 million move for Slavia Prague’s Matej Jurasek.
“I know we’re looking, as I’ve been saying a couple of times, to strengthen the squad in areas like that, but it’s an on-going process,” added the manager. “And, you know, agencies, clubs, players, it takes a lot to agree, and we’ve been there, as well as during the summer window, when we felt, ‘Okay, now we’re very close. And it turned out to be not so close after all.
“So I will always be a little bit careful to say too much, but I think it’s fair to expect that we will try to strengthen the group with a player from the wide area.”
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