Where Norwich City’s best paid player from 10 years ago is right now

Where Norwich City’s best paid player from 10 years ago is right now

In the summer of 2014, Norwich hired Neil Adams as their new permanent manager, despite having been demoted from the Premier League during his caretaker stint the season before. At first, it seemed like a wise move, as the team was leading the league in early October.

However, following a drop in performance during the winter, Adams was fired in January. He left the Canaries in seventh position, and Hamilton Academical manager Alex Neil took his place.

Neil, who was only 33 at the time, was a risky appointment for Norwich, but he turned out to be a brilliant one, nearly leading the team to automatic promotion before they ended the season in third place.

Given that they achieved promotion with a 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the play-off final following a thrilling triumph over fierce East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town in the semi-finals, Canaries supporters may actually be relieved they missed out on the top two in retrospect.

We looked back at Norwich’s highest paid player from the 2014–15 season and their current activities, nearly ten years after the team’s Wembley triumph.

Defender Sebastien Bassong was Norwich’s highest paid player in the 2014–15 campaign, earning £30,000 a week and £1,560,000 annually, according to Capology. It should be noted, however, that they are only estimates.

Bassong won the club’s Player of the Season title in his first season at the Canaries after joining from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2012. He reunited with manager Chris Hughton after they had previously worked together at Newcastle United.

But even though he led the team for a large portion of the next season, he lost favor as soon as Adams took Hughton’s place, and in October 2014, he was loaned to Watford, a team vying for promotion.

Before rejoining Carrow Road in January 2015, Bassong made 11 games for the Hornets. Neil pulled him back into the fold, and he was instrumental in helping Norwich win promotion through the play-offs.

Bassong ultimately received two promotion medals in appreciation of his role to both Watford’s and Watford’s achievements during the 2014–15 season, as both teams were promoted to the Premier League.

Although Bassong was the highest paid player for the Canaries, several of his teammates were also earning a lot of money, such as Jos Hooiveld and Michael Turner (both £18,000 per week), John Ruddy (£25,000 per week), and Gary Hooper (£21,404 per week).

Bassong was let go by Norwich in the summer of 2017 following a tumultuous five-year tenure at the club, during which he was promoted from the Championship and twice relegated from the Premier League.

After leaving Carrow Road, Bassong spent the entire 2017–18 season without a club. However, in October 2018, he signed a short-term contract with League One team Peterborough United, marking his comeback to football.

During his two-month stint at the Weston Homes Stadium, the 38-year-old made just one EFL Trophy appearance for Posh. In the summer of 2019, he moved to Greek team Volos, but he did not perform much better there, making just three appearances.

Although Bassong participated in a preseason friendly with non-league Haringey Borough in September 2020, his departure from Volos signaled the end of his professional football career. Based on his Instagram, he currently works as a consultant, transitional coach, motivational speaker, and commentator.

Bassong is regularly seen providing commentary for the BBC, and just last month he shared his thoughts on the issues his former team, Tottenham, is currently dealing with under Ange Postecoglou.

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