Norwich City made surprise £5m profit on striker despite Premier League struggles: View | OneFootball

The Canaries forward struggled in the Premier League, but still made them money

Norwich City were looking for something of a reset during the 2014 summer transfer window.

The Canaries had just been relegated from the Premier League the previous season, after three years in the top-flight of English football.

As a result, it was a busy summer at Carrow Road, with Neil Adams being handed the managerial role on a permanent basis, following a spell in interim charge at the end of the previous campaign.

There was also changes to the squad on the pitch too, with nine first-team players departing the club, and nine more coming in.

One of the first of those to complete a move to Norwich that summer, was Lewis Grabban.

Lewis Grabban helped the Canaries to promotion

On the 5th June 2014, it was announced that Grabban had completed a move to Carrow Road, joining from another then Championship side, in the form of Bournemouth.

It was reported that Norwich paid a fee in the region of £3million to complete the signing of the striker, who joined on a three-year deal.

Initially, that signing proved to be a successful one for the East Anglia club, with Grabban scoring four goals in his first four games after completing his move.

The striker would continue to be an important player for Norwich throughout the course of the season.

In total, he scored 12 goals in 36 games, to help the Canaries earn an immediate promotion back to the Premier League, via the play-offs.

After that, things did start to go rather wrong when it came to the striker's situation at Carrow Road, although that did not stop them from making some decent money on him.

Norwich made a profit on Lewis Grabban despite controversy

Following promotion to the Premier League, Grabban endured a more difficult time of things with the Canaries, that did cause some distractions.

In late August, the striker was suspended by the club after departing the team hotel ahead of a League Cup clash with Rotherham United, amid bids from Bournemouth to re-sign him.

Although he would eventually return to selection contention, the season remained a frustrating one for both Norwich and Grabban himself.

The striker struggled to force his way into the side, and also finding it hard to make an impact on the rare occasions he did.

In total, he would score just once in seven appearances for the club during the first-half of the campaign, as they battled to avoid dropping into the relegation zone.

Then, in January 2016, Grabban would indeed get his move away from Norwich and back to Bournemouth, who were also playing in the Premier League at that point.

That move would also enable the Canaries to do a surprisingly good bit of business, as despite his struggles at Carrow Road, it was reported that Bournemouth paid £8million for his services.

In doing so, it enabled Norwich to make a £5million profit on a player, something they may not have expected another Premier League club to pay, given his struggles for them at that level.

Ultimately, the Canaries would still be relegated from the top-flight this season, while Bournemouth managed to stay up after finishing 16th.

But despite their survival, there may still have been some questions about their decision to re-sign Grabban, particularly for such a price.

The striker failed to score in 16 appearances following his move to The Vitality Stadium in the second-half of the 2015-16 season.

Following that, the start of the 2016-17 campaign would go no better, with Grabban scoring once - in a League Cup defeat at Preston North End - in six appearances.

The striker was then loaned out to Reading in the 2017 January transfer window, and did not play for the Cherries again.

Instead, Grabban would then spend the following season on loan with Sunderland and Aston Villa, before being sold to Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2018.

It was claimed that Forest paid £6million for the signing of the striker, meaning Bournemouth made something of a financial loss on what they had paid to the Canaries two-and-a-half years before.

With that in mind, while things may not have worked for Norwich with Grabban in the end, they can at least feel that, from a financial perspective, they did get the best from this particular deal.