5 Norwich City transfer mistakes the club must try not to repeat in January 2025 | OneFootball

With the January transfer window almost here, these players serve as a reminder to Canaries fans about just how badly transfers can go.

With the January transfer window looming, Norwich City will likely look to bolster its squad after a slow start to the season.

With the final international break of 2024 upon us, the Canaries are marooned in mid-table, seven points off the play-off positions, and without a win since their impressive 4-0 win over Hull City in early October.

After their humbling at the hands of Leeds United in last season's play-offs, combined with the shock promotion of bitter rivals Ipswich Town, recruitment will be key for the Canaries in their push to return to the Premier League. However, signing a player with heaps of promise who fails to live up to that is a football tale familiar to fans across the country - and it is no different in Norfolk.

Here, Football League World identifies five players who flopped at Carrow Road and continues to remind Canaries fans that the club would want to avoid similar signings in the future.

Luciano Becchio

The Argentine striker was revered among the Elland Road faithful when he swapped white for yellow on Deadline Day in 2013, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal which included Steve Morrison going the other way.

He joined the Whites after they failed to get out of League One at the first attempt in 2008, going on to play a crucial role in a team revitalised following years of decline on and off the pitch. During his time in Yorkshire, he made 213 appearances and scored 84 goals. He was part of the infamous 2010 team which won promotion back to the Championship and knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford.

However, he made just 16 appearances for the Canaries and failed to score before being loaned to Rotherham United in 2014, where he scored twice in five games. Becchio was released the following year following Norwich's promotion to the Premier League.

Steve Walsh

Walsh, who largely played centre-back throughout his career but occasionally featured up front, arrived at Carrow Road in September 2000, off the back of 14 years at Leicester City. He featured over 400 times for the Foxes, having joined from Wigan Athletic in 1986. It was the third time he had worked under then-Norwich manager Bryan Hamilton.

Expectations were high for the veteran defender, but his first game saw the Canaries thumped 4-0 away at Southampton. He went on to make just three more appearances for the club but it was clear his best days were behind him. Scuppered by injuries, his contract was eventually cancelled after four months, with Norwich finishing the (what was then) Division One season in 15th.

Michael Theo

The Australian goalkeeper, who shortened his Theoklitos surname by deed poll in 2012, is infamous among the Carrow Road faithful, despite only ever playing one game for the club.

He joined the Canaries, with the club reeling off the back of relegation to League One, in 2009 from his native Melbourne Victory. On the first day of the season, he conceded five before half time as Norwich were humiliated at home by their East Anglian rivals Colchester United, with the game finishing 7-1.

After Paul Lambert was brought in to replace Bryan Gunn in the dugout, who had backed Theo despite the opening-day result, he fell out of favour in the team. His fate was all but sealed when he failed to turn up for a Johnstone's Paint Trophy tie against Gillingham. Theo eventually departed Norfolk in March 2010.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel

When then-record signing van Wolfswinkel rose above the Everton defence to head home an equaliser on debut, there was every reason for the Carrow Road faithful to be excited.

The Canaries announced they'd signed the Dutch international in March 2013 (in advance of the 2013/14 season) for a reported £8.5 million from Sporting Lisbon. He had impressed in the Portuguese capital, scoring 45 goals in 88 games. Fellow countryman Robin Van Persie, who was at Manchester United at the time, recommended van Wolfswinkel move to Norfolk and then-Norwich boss Chris Hughton described him as the "perfect fit" for the club.

However, he never quite lived up to his initial promise. He only scored one more goal for the club and eventually left, following a couple of loan spells, in 2016 - notching up 28 appearances in three years.

Van Wolfswinkel is probably remembered more for his part in Leroy Fer's controversial disallowed goal in a goalless draw against Cardiff City in October 2013. He quickly took a throw-in, after Bluebirds goalkeeper David Marshall had sportingly kicked the ball out for a Norwich player to receive treatment, which Fer converted. A furious Marshall rounded on the Dutch duo before referee Michael Jones disallowed the goal.

Jacob Butterfield

An incredible run of form at the start of the 2011/12 season attracted plenty of attention for the Barnsley midfielder, leaving many to praise the Canaries for securing his services the following summer.

At 21 years old, he was one of the Tykes' youngest-ever captains and scored five goals in a season where he also earned an England-U21s call-up. He was the subject of intense speculation over his future, with multiple Premier League clubs reportedly keeping tabs on him, before his season abruptly ended at Elland Road on New Year's Eve.

He nonetheless signed a four-year contract with the Canaries after his Barnsley contract expired in the summer of 2012. His time at Carrow Road was like night and day compared to Oakwell; he made three appearances in the Capital One and FA Cups and, despite being named on the bench for games against Everton and Manchester City, never featured in the Premier League.

After spending time on loan at Bolton WanderersMiddlesborough for a reported £600,000 in the summer of 2013.