Norwich City suffer transfer plan blow as Gabriel Sara spotter seals Carrow Road exit | OneFootball

At just 33 years of age, the departing recruitment chief had a large impact in eight years at Norwich

Norwich City’s transfer plans for the upcoming summer window have been impacted by the departure of a key figure in their recruitment department.

Mariela Nisotaki departed the Canaries last month in order to take up a role at another English club, as part of an ownership group expected to be formalised in the coming weeks, according to the Pink Un.

The departure of Nisotaki, a recruitment chief at Carrow Road, will be a big blow to Norwich, with the Greek a key part of the recruitment of recent stars such as Gabriel Sara, Emi Buendia, and Marcelino Nunez.

Long-serving recruitment chief Mariela Nisotaki has departed Norwich City

Norwich City fans might not be too aware of the work done by Mariela Nisotaki at Carrow Road, despite the recruitment guru’s eight-year involvement with the club.

During Nisotaki’s time at Norwich, the Canaries lifted the Championship title twice, with players brought to the club in part by the efforts of the Greek playing a key role in the success under Daniel Farke.

Nistoaki joined Norwich from Atromitos Athens in her native Greece midway through the 2016/17 campaign, although it was not her first taste of the EFL.

She had previously worked for Swansea City as a performance analyst, before returning to Greece to work as chief analyst at Atromitos Athens for the first half of the 2016/17 season.

Although originally joining Norwich as a scout, she served as a video analyst for Daniel Farke during the German’s first Championship-winning season in 2018/19.

Despite only being 33 years of age, Nistoaki has held a variety of roles at Norwich City, namely lead recruitment analyst, including lead technical and intelligence scout, European and domestic lead scout, and head of emerging talent.

Just last summer Nisotaki had been promoted to assistant head of recruitment, working closely with department lead Lee Dunn.

Norwich are now left scrambling to find a replacement for Nisotaki ahead of the summer transfer window, which opens in June.

Mariela Nisotaki was key to Norwich City signing stars such as Gabriel Sara and Emi Buendia

The biggest legacy Nisotaki will leave at Norwich is the club’s foothold in the South American market.

The Canaries now have a fully-fledged scouting operation in the continent, which was spearheaded by the 33-year-old's personal trips to South America.

That paved the way for Norwich to identify Gabriel Sara, who was playing for Sao Paulo in Brazil at the time of his move in July 2022.

After paying an initial £6million for the Brazilian, Norwich received a guaranteed £20million from Galatasary when they sold Sara ahead of the 2024/25 season.

Another South American success story is Marcelino Nunez, who was signed from Universidad Catolica in his native Chile the same summer as Sara.

The Chilean international has gone on to become a consistent performer for the Canaries, but arguably Nisotaki’s biggest impact for Norwich came in identifying Emi Buendia.

When previous head of recruitment Kieran Scott arrived at Norwich City, he asked if the Canaries had missed any potential targets.

Nisotaki instantly replied, showing her new boss Emi Buendia’s scout report.

Norwich signed the Argentine for just over £1million from Getafe in the summer of 2018, and three years, 121 games, 24 goals, and 41 assists later, the Canaries received a club-record £33million from Aston Villa when they sold Buendia in June 2021.

In recent years, Nisotaki has also helped re-focus Norwich’s recruitment on signing younger players, alongside the efforts of Lee Dunn and sporting director Ben Knapper.