Norwich City turned £150k into £25m with stunning early transfer: View

The £150,000 purchase of Ben Godfrey by Norwich City proved to be a huge profit when he was sold to Everton.

The Canaries took a chance on signing the defender when he was 18 after initially breaking through with York City.

He later became an important member of Daniel Farke’s team as they were promoted to the Premier League in 2019; the club stated

the move was worth £150,000.

Even though the team was ultimately relegated back to the Championship, the 26-year-old made an impression during their time back

in the top division.

This led to a move to Everton, with the BBC reporting that the Toffees paid £25 million to sign him in October 2020.

This was a massive profit and a great piece of business by the club as they then went on to gain promotion back to the Premier League

that same season anyway.

Ben Godfrey’s emergence at Norwich

Godfrey was allowed time to adjust to the higher standard before being called up to the first team squad at Norwich.

He also gained some much-needed senior experience on a loan transfer to Shrewsbury Town for the 2017–18 season, which helped

him prepare to join Farke’s squad.

The team nurtured his growth superbly and were rewarded with a promotion calibre campaign, which also led to a nice profit after he

was transferred to Everton.

In this period, the Canaries proved they were adept at manoeuvring the transfer market by putting together a team that could win the

Championship on a lower budget than some of its rivals.

Although Norwich struggled to stay in the Premier League, going up and then straight down twice during this time, their astute

business decisions made sure the team’s finances expanded.

The club turned a huge £150,000 into £25 million in a matter of years, making this one of their best transfer decisions in the past ten years.

Lessons for Ben Knapper

Since then, Ben Knapper has served as Norwich’s director of football for the past 12 months, replacing Johannes Hoff Thorup as the

team’s first manager.

His first summer in charge of the Championship team’s hiring was busy, with a special emphasis on departures because of the

rumours involving players like Adam Idah, Jonathan Rowe, and Gabriel Sara.

But when he has more time in the post then he will have more opportunities to comb the market for interesting new talent, like Godfrey.

Knapper should take the defender’s success at Norwich as an example, as he can afford to take chances on less expensive younger

players rather than pursuing high-profile signings.

If, for example, the Canaries recruit five or six players for a comparable price, then only one of them has to do as well as Godfrey to

boost the club and maybe turn a significant profit; if none of them do well, then just about £1 million has been spent on the experiment.

It’s a distinct strategy that may ultimately provide them the advantage over their competitors when it comes to promotion.

Norwich needs to put in a lot of effort into finding the next Godfrey, who is probably out there somewhere.

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