Norwich City are heading into the summer transfer window with another hard look at the attack, and the broadest need is out wide. The club’s shortage of creative and wide players was clear throughout last season, and the picture has not become any cleaner with Tony Springett gone and Jeffrey Schlupp also moving on after more than 150 appearances in advanced attacking roles across his career.
Ali Ahmed, Papa Amadou Diallo and Matej Jurasek are Norwich’s main traditional winger options heading into the summer, with Amankwah Forson, Errol Mundle-Smith and Ante Crnac also able to play there. But if Ahmed is set aside, the other five wide options managed only 27 league starts between them last season, a number that underlines how thin the squad became when the games stacked up. Philippe Clement was forced to turn to Liam Gibbs and Kenny McLean on the flanks on multiple occasions, while Jovon Makama was also used there even though he prefers to operate as a striker.
That shortage sits at the centre of a wider squad audit before the window opens. Ben Knapper is expected to strengthen Norwich’s attacking areas this summer, particularly in the wide channels, and the club’s transfer strategy includes a hunt for a wide player. Recent links have included Farès Ghedjemis, Ichem Ferrah and Charlotte, all names that point to a recruitment push aimed at giving the side more natural width rather than continuing to patch the area with makeshift options.
The issue is not confined to the wings. Injuries were a problem in the number 10 position last season, and Norwich also lost Emi Marcondes, leaving limited depth behind the striker. Oscar Schwartau, Anis Ben Slimane and Paris Maghoma are in the frame to be influential figures there, while Clement also experimented with Jacob Wright and Mathias Kvistgaarden in the role last season. That meant the team often had to improvise in the spaces where games are usually decided.
Elliot Myles remains under contract until 2028, with an option of a further year, but that has not yet turned him into a ready-made solution. Clement said in March that Myles was not ready for Championship football, and the club is still expected to sign Errol Mundle-Smith to a new contract. Every option in this area apart from Mundle-Smith is tied down at Carrow Road beyond next season, which gives Norwich stability on paper but does not solve the immediate question of how to add pace, invention and reliable delivery this summer.
The answer is already becoming clear: Norwich need at least one proper winger, and probably more than one creative option, if they are to stop asking central players to cover the same ground again. For a club trying to sharpen the attack before next season, the work in the wide channels is the part of the rebuild that cannot be postponed.
