"Norwich City fans seem to be very upset" - Ipswich Town backed to seal surprise transfer | OneFootball

The Tractor Boys are dropping a heavy sum to steal one of their rivals’ top players

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...

Ipswich Town are reportedly moving towards signing Norwich City star Marcelino Nunez.

That’s according to The Telegraph journalist John Percy, who revealed the Tractor Boys are set to fork out £10m for the player, with £2.5m in “achievable bonuses”.

The Chile international, based on the same report, is said to have rejected at least two contract offers from his current side, with his Canaries contract set to expire next summer.

We asked our Ipswich fan pundit, Adam Wilkin, what he makes of the proposed Nunez deal and how it feels to be taking one of their close rivals’ top players.

Marcelino Nunez is the midfielder Ipswich Town need

Speaking to Football League World, Adam said: “It's a refreshing change to be poaching from them rather than the other way around.

“It wasn't that long ago that they were stealing one of our hottest youth prospects in Liam Gibbs, or who we thought was a hot youth prospect at the time. He’s turned out to not really do much north of the border.

“But I really like Nunez as an all-round midfielder, and he feels like the perfect fit to cover both of the midfield roles.

“His shots and goals from outside the box last season. he scored four times outside the box, and had a very high number of shots.

“Loves a screamer as we all know too well from the last East Anglian Derby, where he scored against us, also from outside of the box, but all will be forgiven, I'm sure, when he puts on that blue and white shirt.

“But yeah, it's not just his shooting ability. He looks to be very, very solid defensively, as well.

“And yeah, Norwich City fans seem to be very upset about everything, which makes it that little bit more exciting to sign one of their best players, with him turning down a contract their side, if the rumour is to be believed.”

Marcelino Nunez deal will be a line in the sand for Ipswich Town fans

The first, and main, thing to note with Nunez’s deal is what a top player the Tractor Boys are getting.

He registered 10 goal involvements for Norwich last season, can play a variety of midfield roles, and, at 25 years old, still has room to grow and develop as a player.

Moreover, that Ipswich can afford to drop £10m on a player is a long way from the depths of League One that they have experienced in recent years.

Through that difficult spell, their rivals on the other side of the East Anglian Derby were always the dominant partner and, as Liam notes, coming to Portman Road to lift out some of the best prospects.

But this Nunez deal will be a huge signal that the tide has turned in Ipswich’s favour, that not only can they outdo them financially to get a deal like this done, but that they can also lure away one of the current top performers at Carrow Road.

Should this deal turn out as good in practice as it looks on paper, there will be plenty of positives from an Ipswich perspective.