Norwich City backed to make a huge profit on defender as '£15-20m' price tag claim made | OneFootball

Ruairi McConville has been in excellent form since breaking into the Norwich side under Philippe Clement

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…

Ruairi McConville has cemented his place in the heart of the Norwich City defence under Philippe Clement and has been widely praised for his performances by Canaries supporters.

Norwich City are absolutely flying at the moment.

Under the guidance of former Monaco and Rangers boss Philippe Clement, the Canaries are one of the most in-form teams in the entire country, with just three defeats in their last 15 games across all competitions, including seven wins in their last eight.

This form has seen them go some way clear of the relegation zone as things stand, in what has been a truly remarkable turnaround at Carrow Road since the dismissal of Liam Manning.

Manning's failure in Norfolk can be attributed to a variety of factors, though one evident mistake that he made was not utilising Northern Irish defender Ruari McConville nearly enough.

A product of the Brighton and Hove Albion academy system, having previously spent time in his native country with Linfield, McConville made the move to Norwich in January 2025 for an initial fee of £1 million, rising to £2.5 million.

He found himself behind each of Jose Cordoba, Harry Darling, Shane Duffy, and Jakov Medic at the beginning of the season, but since Clement's arrival, he has been almost undroppable, emerging as one of the first names on the team sheet at still just 20-years-old.

Norwich City backed to make a healthy profit from Ruairi McConville

Football League World's Norwich fan pundit, Zeke, has shared their thoughts on McConville's performances this season, and whether the Canaries will be able to sell him on for a big profit in the future.

Zeke said, "I can't believe that McConville was not even given a chance under Manning. He had the odd few minutes here and there, but he was seen as being his fifth choice, maybe fourth, because we still had Hills then."So I don't understand it because Clement realised his potential and how good he was instantly, and he put him straight in. And ever since then, he has repaid him because he's been a rock at the back in pretty much every single game."He's not made mistakes, he's very calm, he's really good on the ball, reads the game really, really well. And yeah, the fact that he's only what, 20, 21 or something like that, maybe even younger, is a promising sign that he will go on to do really good things. Hopefully, that's with us if we can get it all right and line it up, because it's obviously unlikely that this season we can make the playoffs. But next season, we could push for promotion under Clement."So I'd imagine that would be a reason for McConville to stay and develop further, but he will no doubt get a lot of interest from other clubs."I can imagine we have him for a little bit, and then next season, if we manage to go up, he could maybe stay with us in the Premier League, but obviously that's wishful thinking and thinking ahead."But if we do go up, we'd love to obviously have him in our team in the Premier League. And then I would imagine he could improve even further, and then clubs come in for him, and he would be worth a lot of money. So, if it has risen to £2.5 million, I would be very surprised if he ends up going for any less than £15-20 million, especially if we also go up, that price will also increase."

Philippe Clement has transformed Norwich City's fortunes since his arrival, with Ruari McConville a huge factor

Not even the most optimistic of Norwich fans would have possibly predicted the magnitude of the turnaround they have undergone since Clement walked through the Carrow Road doors.

The Canaries looked like real relegation contenders upon his arrival, but the Belgian has seen them fly up the table thanks to the changes he has implemented.

One of those was the introduction of McConville in defence, with the Northern Irishman having played every single league minute since Clement's arrival, aside from his opening game in charge, where they fell to a 4-1 defeat away to Birmingham City.

Before that, the young defender had started just twice all season, with McConville being one of the major beneficiaries of the Belgian's impact.

Having made some breathing room between themselves and the bottom three, Norwich can dare to look up the table now towards the top six. Although a play-off place remains unlikely, if they are to continue this rich vein of form with McConville in the heart of defence, then the sky is the limit.

Signed for a minimal fee, Norwich could well make a huge profit in the coming years on McConville, though they will be hoping that should he make the step up to the Premier League, then it is with them.