Norwich City should launch move to sign Stockport County star – He could be better than Callum Doyle | OneFootball

Norwich City should make a move to sign Stockport County centre-back Ethan Pye this summer.

Norwich City have undergone something of a fairly major rebuild to their squad this summer, with the Canaries poaching manager Liam Manning away from Bristol City.

Manning had led the Robins to the play-off semi-finals last season, where they were then hammered 6-0 aggregate by Sheffield United, before opting to make the move to Norfolk over the summer.

Norwich have since seen quite a few new additions made to offset against the departure of attacking midfielder Borja Sainz, who has joined FC Porto.

There have been plenty of links for United States international Josh Sargent, too, with Burnley exclusively revealed by Football League World to be interested, and Norwich have, as of yet, been unable to re-sign Lewis Dobbin on loan from Aston Villa, despite saying they had begun talks in May.

They also look set to miss out on Callum Doyle, who spent last season on loan at Carrow Road, but the England U21 international is set to complete a move to Wrexham for a fee believed to be in the region of £8 million.

For a smaller fee, though, Norwich could well now turn their attention to another left-sided centre-back, who could be an even better signing than Doyle would have been in Stockport County defender Ethan Pye.

Pye would be a perfect fit for Norwich

Ethan Pye has been exceptional at Stockport County since moving to the Hatters from Rochdale’s impressive academy setup in 2021, and he has established himself as one of the best defenders in League One.

The 22-year-old centre-back, who has spent time out on loan at both Spennymoor Town and Gateshead, and has already made close to 100 appearances for Stockport, playing a key part in them rising from the National League to one of the title favourites in the third-tier.

Pye, like Doyle, is a left-footed centre-back that is capable of playing at left-back, as he did with Gateshead whilst on loan in the 2022/23 National League season.

So far this season, he has played as one of two centre-backs in a 4-2-3-1, whilst also playing as the left centre-back in a back three under Dave Challinor.

At 6 ft, Pye doesn’t necessarily have overriding physical attributes to make him one of the more no nonsense defenders in League One, but he reads the game exceptionally well and remains committed to the challenge, as any defender for a Challinor-coached side must be.

A brilliant player at bringing the ball out from the back, it has been especially noticeable how many of Stockport’s attacking thrusts this season have come down the left-hand side with Pye the driving force.

He has already been linked with a move to Blackburn Rovers this summer, but has so far remained at Stockport, but he is a player that Championship clubs should be queuing up to sign, and he is one that would be ideal for Liam Manning.

Pye could have a higher ceiling than Doyle

Callum Doyle is highly-rated and rightly so, having come through the Manchester City academy, and he has already gained excellent EFL experience at such a young age following loan stints with Sunderland, Coventry City, Leicester City and Norwich.

Something that is perhaps being realised, though, is that his ceiling may well be knocking on the door of starting week in week out for a top end Championship team, but not yet being ready for the step up.

Wrexham have splashed the cash on the Englishman, who was excellent for Norwich last season, but the potential of Pye is a lot more unknown than Doyle, and in a way that is a lot more exciting.

As expected, Norwich have begun the season with a back-three setup, which is the system that Manning almost exclusively uses, and Pye would be perfect to slot in on the left-side alongside Harry Darling and Jakov Medic, in place of Jose Cordoba.

Missing out on Doyle may be a bit of a blow after the busy and impressive summer transfer window that they have had, but moving for the Stockport sensation could well soften the blow.