Stockport set to rival Notts County for Norwich City transfer agreement | OneFootball

The bottom end of the EFL is more competitive than ever this year, with the returns of both Wrexham and Notts County bringing a lot more promotion competition to League Two.

And with sides such as Stockport County, Mansfield Town and even Barow and Crewe Alexandra getting involved in the battle for the top three, the fourth tier of English football is perhaps the level to be watching right now.

Currently, it is Stockport who lead the way on 51 points, which has been aided by a 12-match winning run in the league earlier on in the season, but a recent wobble has allowed the chasing pack to close the Hatters down.

Dave Challinor will be looking to strengthen his squad this month though, and following a run of results where they have not won in their last three attempts and conceded four times, County are looking into potentially adding to their defensive options.

Stockport keen on Norwich centre-back Warner

And according to the Sunday Mirror's Sports Editor Darren Witcoop, Stockport are looking to add a bit more youthfulness to their back-line as they want to sign Norwich City prodigy Jaden Warner.

The Hatters have a strong array of centre-back options, including Fraser Horsfall, Ethan Pye, Akil Wright and Neill Byrne, but it is thought that Challinor is looking to add one more body in that area of the pitch.

And Warner is a 21-year-old centre-back who recently made his debut for Norwich's first-team earlier in the season when playing all 90 minutes of an EFL Cup clash against Fulham.

Canaries head coach David Wagner handed Warner his Championship debut ahead of the more experienced Danny Batth back in November when he started in a home clash against Blackburn Rovers, but the youngster has since dropped out of the matchday squad and was most recently captaining their under-21's side in the Premier League 2.

Stockport though could look to offer Warner more game-time for the second half of the season in what could be a good move for his development.

Notts County rivalling Stockport for Warner's services

There is competition however to sign Warner this month for Stockport, and it comes from one of their promotion rivals in the form of Notts County.

Witcoop claimed a number of days ago that the Magpies had serious interest in loaning Warner in at Meadow Lane for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign.

However, that could be scuppered by the fact that head coach Luke Williams is on the verge of leaving the fifth-placed League Two side, with a move back to Swansea City as their new boss close to being confirmed.

That could put any transfer deals for County on the back-burner whilst they find Williams' successor, and it could put Stockport in pole position to land the highly-rated defender.