Norwich City: Carrow Road may have trust issues after £8.8m disappointment | OneFootball

The end of the Christos Tzolis saga was an eventuality that could have been avoided, but the effects are still felt by Norwich City fans.

Big money players are often few and far between for Norwich City, but Christos Tzolis' Carrow Road experience has to be avoided in the future.

The Greek international joined the Canaries for a reported fee of £8.8 million in the summer of 2021. At the time, head coach Daniel Farke branded him as one of the most exciting prospects in European football.

Flash forward to now, and he's only played thirty games in yellow and green, scoring just three goals. It can hardly be argued that Norwich got any bang for their buck on such a pricey transfer, but there was clearly a quality player there. His loan spell at Fortuna Düsseldorf could not have worked out better for the German outfit, scoring 24 goals in one season.

It was a saga that was a large part of the downfall of previous sporting director Stuart Webber, and the new Norwich chiefs will have to avoid anything similar to win the trust of the City faithful.

Tzolis could not live up to the hype at Norwich

When Tzolis joined, it was hard for Norwich fans to contain their hype. Branded a "wonder-kid" and linked to the likes of Manchester United and Borrussia Dortmund, it looked to be another tasty bit of business from Webber, and the fact that the club were willing to spend was a sign of the ambition they've been accused of omitting on their return to the Premier League.

And the hype was only exacerbated when, on his first start for the club, he netted a brace and assisted twice in a Carabao Cup fixture against Bournemouth. But if there's anything to learn from the likes of Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Steven Naismith, a debut goal often spells doom for what's to come.

Tzolis would never quite hit the same heights again. For the remainder of the 21/22 season, he'd only appear 14 times, with just three starts in the Premier League.

His Norwich career perhaps was not helped by missing a penalty he was not supposed to take against Liverpool, which Farke said was a "naive error from a young player".

But 'no bother', thought some Norwich fans, 'surely he'll get some time in the Championship to prove his worth, right?'

Tzolis could do it on loan, but not at Carrow Road

Upon Norwich's relegation in the 21/22 season, Tzolis was sent out on loan to Dutch outfit FC Twente. Young players going on loan is hardly unheard of - he was only 20 at the time - but given the price tag, you'd expect that the Championship could be a good level to test him. While his spell there wasn't remarkable, he surpassed his goal tally at Norwich in half the time, and he was recalled by the Norwich bosses.

But once again, he couldn't find much of a way into the squad, only playing 321 minutes for the rest of the season. He was then shipped off to Fortuna Düsseldorf the following season, in a move that has baffled Norwich fans since.

During his time at the Bundesliga 2 side, he hit the goal 24 times in 37 games. You'd hardly believe your luck if your side had managed to secure a loan with such success. It was a season Norwich fans had to enjoy their £8.8 million prospect from afar, with questions growing as to why he was able to hit his stride so well elsewhere than at Carrow Road.

Düsseldorf were quick to activate their buy option come the end of the season for a reported fee of €3.5 million, and would take advantage of his performances for the club by selling him on to Club Brugge for a profit of around €3 million.

The Tzolis saga marked another blow to the trust of high-priced transfers at Norwich, which had already been chipped away at with the likes of Milot Rashica and Pierre Lees-Melou. It's a trust that has been slowly rebuilt with the Gabriel Sara and Marcelino Nunez transfers, and which path Norwich's signings this season take remains to be seen.

But Ben Knapper and Johannes Hoff Thorup can learn a lot from the transfers of seasons past, and if they want to keep the Carrow Road punters on side, they're lessons that will have to be learned quickly with the impending January transfer window.