Norwich City: Carrow Road may have trust issues after £8.8m disappointment

Norwich City frequently lacks big-money players, but they must avoid Christos Tzolis’ Carrow Road past in the future.

In the summer of 2021, the Greek international reportedly paid £8.8 million to join the Canaries. He was hailed as

one of the most promising possibilities in European football at the time by head coach Daniel Farke.

As of right now, he has only appeared in thirty games while wearing yellow and green, and he has only managed to

score three goals. There was obviously a good talent there, but it’s hard to say Norwich received much for their

money on such an expensive transfer. With 24 goals during his loan at Fortuna Düsseldorf, the German team could

not have asked for a greater outcome.

It was a saga that was a large part of the downfall of previous sporting director Stuart Webber, and the new Norwich

chiefs will have to avoid anything similar to win the trust of the City faithful.

Tzolis could not live up to the hype at Norwich

It was difficult for Norwich supporters to control their excitement when Tzolis signed. Referred to as a “wonder-kid”

and associated with teams such as Manchester United and Borrussia Dortmund, it appeared to be yet another

lucrative deal from Webber. The club’s willingness to spend was indicative of the ambition they had been accused of

lacking in their return to the Premier League.

And when he scored two goals and provided two assists in a Carabao Cup match against Bournemouth on his first

start for the team, the excitement was only increased. However, if there’s one thing to learn from players like Steven

Naismith and Ricky van Wolfswinkel, it’s that a goal in the first game usually portends disaster.

Never again would Tzolis reach such heights. He would only make 14 appearances and three Premier League starts

for the rest of the 21–22 campaign.

Farke claimed that his “naive error from a young player” in missing a penalty he was not authorised to take against

Liverpool may have hurt his Norwich career.

However, some Norwich supporters said, “no bother,” believing that “he’ll get some time in the Championship to prove his worth, right?”

Tzolis could do it on loan, but not at Carrow Road

After Norwich was relegated in the 21–22 season, Tzolis was loaned to FC Twente, a Dutch team. Although it’s not

uncommon for young players to go on loan—he was only 20 at the time—you would think that the Championship

would be a suitable level to put him to the test considering the price tag. Even though his time there wasn’t very

noteworthy, the Norwich managers called him back after he exceeded his goal total in halftime.

He only played 321 minutes for the remainder of the season, though, as he once again struggled to get into the group.

The following season, Norwich supporters have been perplexed by his transfer to Fortuna Düsseldorf.

In 37 games while playing for the Bundesliga 2 team, he scored 24 goals. You wouldn’t believe your luck if your side

had been so successful in getting a loan. During that season, Norwich supporters had to watch their £8.8 million

potential from a distance, and speculation about why he was able to find his rhythm so quickly outside of Carrow

Road was beginning to surface.

In light of his performances for the team, Düsseldorf was fast to exercise their buy option at the end of the season for

a reported €3.5 million, and they would sell him to Club Brugge for almost €3 million in profit.

The trust in expensive transfers at Norwich, which had already been eroded by players like Pierre Lees-Melou and

Milot Rashica, was further damaged by the Tzolis scandal. With the trades of Gabriel Sara and Marcelino Nunez, the

trust has been gradually restored; it remains to be seen what direction Norwich’s additions this season will go.

However, Ben Knapper and Johannes Hoff Thorup can learn a lot from previous seasons’ transactions, and they will

need to act fast to apply those lessons if they are to retain the Carrow Road supporters in the upcoming January

transfer window.

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