"It is fantastic news" - Pundit speaks out on Norwich City decision involving Borja Sainz | OneFootball

Carlton Palmer speaks highly of Borja Sainz and expresses the importance of keeping him ahead of this season.

Norwich City have come alive in the Championship now.

There is no denying that the Canaries had a slightly slow start to the season, and new manager, Johannes Hoff Thorup suffered a shock to the system.

Their opening day defeat to newly-promoted Oxford United came as a surprise, but since then they have really kicked on.

Norwich are now on a four-game unbeaten streak in the Championship, which has taken them up to 7th in the table despite their slow start. Three of those four games have been wins, with the only winless game being a hard-fought draw at home to Leeds United.

On Saturday, Norwich arguably picked up their best result of the season so far as they thrashed Hull City by four goals to nil at Carrow Road.

The best bit about the victory was that all four goals came from different goalscorers, with Marcelino Nunez, Josh Sargent, Kaide Gordon and Borja Sainz all getting on the scoresheet.

Norwich suffered a number of setbacks over the summer, having lost some key players, and they were close to being hit with another blow as one of Saturday's goalscorers, Borja Sainz, was a topic of conversation down in his home country.

Borja Sainz was receiving interest from elsewhere

In September, it was revealed by Spanish outlet, El Correo, that Athletic Bilbao had targeted Borja Sainz over the summer ahead of a potential transfer. The report claimed that talks had been held between Bilbao's Sporting Director and Sainz' camp about his current contract situation.

Bilbao supposedly see Sainz as a future target, but Norwich were determined to keep a hold of him, and they managed to do exactly that this summer.

It is likely that the club will come back in for the winger at some point, but the Canaries would have been glad to have kept him for at least another season.

The Spaniard has become an incredibly important player for Norwich under Thorup this season, and has already scored an impressive seven goals in nine Championship games, which is one more than his total tally of six last campaign.

Sainz even scored a hattrick in September away to Derby County, so has certainly nailed down that starting left-wing position.

Sainz will be highly influential in the number of chances created and goals scored for Norwich this season, so preventing him from departing over the summer was crucial. Former England international and current pundit, Carlton Palmer, spoke exclusively to FLW, to express his thoughts on the situation.

"It was very important that Norwich kept hold of Borja Sainz amid interest from Bilbao and a few other clubs in Europe. Norwich have proved to be right, they're sitting 7th, a point off the play-offs and he (Sainz) is having a fantastic start to the season."

"He's a fan-favourite and the manager sees him as a very, very important part of his squad. He is under contract until the summer of 2026, but it is fantastic news that they have been able to keep hold of him."

"He gets on really well with the supporters, so it's a good bit of business."

"Norwich are ticking along quite nicely after missing a few influential players, but it is really good business that they have managed to keep hold of him (Sainz)."

"He's a former Basque player. I would expect Bilbao to maybe come back and target him again, but he's having a fantastic season with Norwich, so we'll have to watch this space. Norwich will be keen to extend his contract before the January transfer window or, if not, before the summer."