“Obvious question marks” – Norwich City in transfer tussle with West Brom for attacking midfielder: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion are both pushing for Sao Paulo attacking midfielder Gabriel Sara, according to Ge Globo.

A potential bid worth more than £10 million has been touted for the playmaker, with the two Championship clubs both linked.

But would Sara be a good signing for Norwich? And do they need him?

Our FLW writers have their say…

Quiz: 20 statements about former Norwich City players – Are they true or false?

1 of 20

True or false: John Ruddy started his senior career with Norwich!

True False

Alfie Burns

There are going to be obvious question marks over whether or not Sara can adapt to the Championship.

However, it’s the type of signing that we’ve seen Norwich have success with in the past.

Teemu Pukki and Emi Buendia are two players from recent memory that arrived with similar doubts, yet they’ve been hugely successful. There’s no reason why Sara can’t be the same at Carrow Road.

For what it’s worth, Norwich’s summer business has underwhelmed so far and it’s important that they get a handful of deals done before the season starts if they want to hit the ground running.

So, for Dean Smith this is much-needed and quite timely.

As mentioned, it’s got an element of risk surrounding it, but there’s no harm in taking those risks given Norwich’s track record.

George Dagless

It’s hard to say really.

I can’t confess to have seen a lot of Sara play over in Brazil and you’d just have to hope that Norwich will have obviously done their homework and that they feel he is a player that can contribute.

They’ve had success before in plucking players with South American backgrounds and they’ll obviously hope that they can do that again in this instance.

As an attacking midfielder his job is obviously to be creative and lend a hand with the goals and with Norwich set to be one of the teams to beat next season, Sara could be a big player for them.

Simmey Hannifin-Donaldson

It’s tough to say.

Having played in the Brazilian league I have not seen enough of Sara to give a definitive verdict on whether or not he’s a good signing for Norwich.

There are clearly advantages to the deal, he’s young and potentially exciting, and the move being discussed is a loan one, with either the option or obligation to buy at the end of it.

That would clearly give Norwich the opportunity to assess the player over a lengthy period before splashing their cash.

The player is vastly experienced having played in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, too.

I have to say, though, looking at his statistics in Brazil, it’s not a guarantee he’ll be a hit at Carrow Road.