Norwich City urged to sanction Canaries transfer exit in January 2026 - 'Everyone is very confused' | OneFootball

Football League World have asked our Norwich City fan pundit who he expects to see leave the club in January and one name sprang immediately to mind.

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…

Norwich City will be heading into the January transfer window in a state of flux.

Their disastrous Liam Manning experiment is now firmly in the past, with Philippe Clement now tasked with the job of salvaging a season which started disastrously.

The January window offers clubs an opportunity to refresh their playing squads ahead of the second half of the season, but this isn't entirely about bringing new players into the club.

Others will have to leave in order to make way for them, and that will mean that departures, whether on loan or permanently, may need to be a feature of Norwich's window if they're to bring in the players that they need.

"He needs to head out" - Norwich City urged to move Tony Springett on in January

With this in mind, Football League World have spoken to our resident Norwich City fan pundit Zeke Downes to identify one player that Norwich need to move on. and Zeke's response was immediate: "One player who everyone is very confused at why he's still around and how his contract hasn't run out yet is Tony Springett."

Zeke is perplexed as to how Springett has stayed at Carrow Road, when he's shown himself to not be at the standard that Norwich City require: "He was never good enough, two, three, four or however many years ago, so I don't know how he's still around other than the fact that maybe he's not had any offers. He really has to leave, either in this window or at the end of the season."

And while Zeke understands that injuries are the biggest reason why Springett has been making the bench for Norwich this season, this doesn't alter his belief that it would be best for both the player to move on: "I guess what's likely is a loan at first, but he has been making the bench because of all of our injuries. But I'd say that he is not at the level of everyone else in the squad and he's not even that young any more either. I think for both him and the club, he needs to head out. "

Tony Springett hasn't seen much first-team action for Norwich since his 2022 debut

It's not difficult to see the reasons why it's felt that Tony Springett won't be at Carrow Road. An estimated wage of £5,000-a-week, as per Capology, is a lot of money to be paying a player who barely ever plays for them.

Springett missed the first part of this season with a back injury, but he finally came on as a substitute for Jakov Medic in their 3-2 defeat at Watford on the 6th December. It was his first league appearance for the Canaries since a three-minute cameo against Ipswich Town in December 2023, and with a Sofascore rating of just 6.3, he didn't tear up any trees at Vicarage Road when he did get his opportunity.

Earlier that year, Springett had signed a contract extension with Norwich which keeps him at the club until the end of the 2025-26 season, but Norwich haven't got very much for it. Since making his debut for them against West Ham United in the Premier League in May 2022, the academy graduate has only made a small number of appearances for the club, having also had spells out on loan with Derby County and Northampton Town in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

If Norwich City are serious about reigniting their season, it's important that they take full advantage of the January transfer window. With Springett's contract to expire in the summer, it may make sense for the player himself to get some game-time in at another club, because there seem to be very few reasons why they would offer him another extension in the summer and going elsewhere could get him in the shop window should he find himself needing a new contract next summer.

At 22 years of age, there is still time for Springett to get his career back on track. But it does seem at least as likely as not that the next chapter of his career will take place away from Carrow Road.