Norwich City and Aston Villa in transfer discussions for forward | OneFootball

Norwich City have confirmed that they are in negotiations with Aston Villa over re-signing winger Lewis Dobbin.

Norwich City remain without a permanent manager at Carrow Road as they head into what is expected to be a busy summer transfer window, but the Canaries have confirmed that they are in talks to re-sign Lewis Dobbin from Aston Villa.

Johannes Hoff Thorup was sacked by the club with just a couple of games to go of the 2024/25 Championship campaign as they continued to drift into the middle-of-the-table following a 3-1 defeat to Millwall at The Den on Easter Monday.

Jack Wilshere was placed in interim charge but, having been overlooked for the vacancy, the former Arsenal midfielder is set to leave the club having been first-team coach for the season. The likes of Ralph Hasenhuttl and Russell Martin remain the front-runners for the post with the bookies.

Despite no manager being in place, they have continued with recruitment for the summer, led by Sporting Director Ben Knapper, and Dobbin is someone they want to see return to Norfolk.

Aston Villa forward Lewis Dobbin wanted again at Norwich City for 2025-26 season

In the announcement of their retained list, Norwich confirmed that they were in discussions with Aston Villa over the potential of re-signing England youth international forward Dobbin.

Whilst they did specify that they were also in talks to sign Jacob Wright from Manchester City on a permanent deal following his loan stint at the club, Norwich said that the talks around Dobbin were in regard to the potential extension of his loan deal.

The Canaries also confirmed that Callum Doyle, who has spent the season on loan from the Cityzens, will return to his parent club, whilst both Archie Mair and Jonathan Tomkinson will depart the club this summer following the expiry of their contracts.

As well as youngsters Mair and Tomkinson, senior players such as Angus Gunn, Jacob Sorensen and Onel Hernandez have also departed with Jonathan Rowe’s loan move to Olympique de Marseille now becoming a permanent one.

Lewis Dobbin’s stint at Norwich City showed promise - a loan return could be beneficial

Stoke-born Dobbin, who has represented England at U16, U17 and U19 level, came through the academy at Everton and eventually made 20 appearances for the Toffees before his departure last summer.

The former Derby County loanee was sold to Villa for a fee believed to be in the region of £9 million last year, but he was immediately loaned out to West Bromwich Albion, where he spent the first-half of this season.

After making just one start with no goals or assists during his time at The Hawthorns, he moved to Norwich on a temporary basis in the winter transfer window and went on to make ten appearances for the club in the Championship with a couple of goals there against Swansea City and Stoke City.

The 22-year-old has made a bright start to life at Norwich, becoming a regular for a team that, at the time of his injury, were still flirting with making a tilt at the top six and the play-off places in the Championship.

A calf injury sustained against Blackburn Rovers in early March saw him miss the rest of the campaign, but his impact was such that Norwich now appear keen on keeping him at Carrow Road.