Norwich City must always have £7m regret - Canaries flop is 'one of our worst transfers' | OneFootball

FLW's Norwich fan pundit feels that Yanic Wildschut has to go down in history at Norwich for all the wrong reasons

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Unfortunately, Norwich City's transfer dealings in recent windows have sparked conversation about who is truly the worst value for money signing at the Carrow Road-based club in recent memory.

Whilst the Canaries have been able to bring in hefty fees for the likes of Gabriel Sara, Jonathan Rowe and Borja Sainz recently, their big-money replacements, namely the likes of Ante Crnac and Matej Jurasek, haven't lived up to the bill as yet.

However, it's still early days regarding their Norwich careers, and they, alongside the likes of Amankwah Forson and others who joined for less last summer to make an impact in Norfolk.

One player who didn't make an impact at all during his time at Carrow Road, however, was Yanic Wildschut, who lit up League One with Wigan Athletic during their title-winning 2015/16 League One campaign, but failed to perform at Norwich, scoring just twice in 29 Canaries appearances.

Norwich spent £7 million on the Surinamese international to take him away from the DW Stadium in 2017, and FLW's Canaries fan pundit, Zeke Downes, believes that, given that value, he has to go down as one of his club's worst transfers.

Norwich City fan pundit reflects on Yanic Wildschut's time at Carrow Road

After a League One campaign where Wildschut scored seven and assisted 14 in just 34 appearances, the wideman was ready to make an impact in the Championship once more with Wigan, after being a mere afterthought at Middlesbrough a couple of seasons prior.

A solid opening to the season saw the then-25-year-old score five in all competitions, despite the Tics being embroiled in a relegation battle. Norwich, eager to get back into the top flight after being relegated the season before, spent £7 million in the final days of the January transfer window to bring him to Carrow Road.

Reminding Downes of the fee was almost like reliving a nightmare for the Canaries fan pundit: "I'd actually forgotten we paid that much for him," he said.

"That has to go down as one of our worst transfers. He looked okay in spells, but that was a poor move, and the fact he's done absolutely nothing since leaving the club is proof of that."

Wildschut was released at the end of the two-and-a-half-year deal he signed upon his arrival. Despite leaving in 2019, the winger's last appearance for the Canaries came in January 2018, with loan spells at Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers bridging that gap.

After some time in Israel and Bulgaria, Wildschut returned to England in 2022 with Oxford United and last played for Exeter City.

"We've had a lot of bad signings," Downes continued. "We could look back at this current squad and say we made a lot of bad ones, but it's hard to tell at this point, because it might end up being okay in the end.

"But Wildschut wasn't a good signing at all, and for a lot of money."

Norwich City's current squad need to be wary of not overtaking Yanic Wildschut as one of the worst signings in the club's history

The lack of top-drawer talent at Carrow Road currently is rather alarming, given the amount of money Norwich has spent in previous windows.

Crnac has now played over 50 games for the club since he arrived from Rakow, and despite a seven-goal, four-assist campaign being a modest return in his debut season, it doesn't represent someone who cost the club an initial £8.5 million plus add-ons.

Similarly, Jurasek, who has played less than 10 games so far in his Norwich career, came in for £5.8 million in January. This is a lot of money for a Championship side who are no longer in receipt of Premier League parachute payments, and the expectations have outweighed the end product so far.

With the current crop of arrivals still being at the club, there's plenty of time to still make an impact, as Downes said. However, when their tenures at Norwich are all said and done, they may end up being brought up in these conversations in a decade's time.