How James Maddison singlehandedly saved Norwich City from ‘disaster’ in 2018 with crucial decision

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Norwich City are a pretty sturdy club now and are doing great business in the transfer window, but just seven years ago they were facing a dire situation.

Over the past 20 years or so, it would be just to describe Norwich as a yo-yo club. The Canaries have spent 13 seasons in the Championship, one in League One, and six in the top flight since 2006.

With Liam Manning now at the helm, there is hope for a fresh direction going into the 2025/26 campaign, and promotion back to the Premier League will very much be on the agenda.

However, while parachute payments have helped the Norfolk outfit in the past, Norwich have also faced financial problems when that money runs out. So much so, that one transfer was crucial to keeping the club afloat.

• READ MORE: Liam Manning has spoken to Championship ace since taking over at Norwich City, he ‘would like’ to sign him

James Maddison’s transfer to Leicester City literally saved Norwich City from financial ruin

After his move from Coventry City, James Maddison really made a name for himself at Norwich. As the 2017/18 season came to an end, though, he needed to move on; Not only for his own benefit, but for the sake of the club.

However, on the final day of the season, Maddison came off injured in a 5-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. The Canaries ended up in 14th place that season, and behind the scenes, the club were desperate to make a big sale in order to stave off a messy situation financially.

Maddison was always the player that then-sporting director Stuart Webber had earmarked for a big transfer, but the injury threw that into doubt.

Speaking in 2019 (via the Leicester Mercury), Webber said: “Listen, that would have been a disaster. There’s no other way of dressing that up. I remember going down at half-time and speaking to the physios and you get that look of, ‘This isn’t going to be good news,’ before you even start to speak.

“Then the next two or three days were nervous until he had his scan and it wasn’t as bad as first thought. That Sunday night was not good. We were being criticised for getting beat 5-1 at Sheffield Wednesday and we didn’t know how long James would be out for.

“The transfer hadn’t been agreed. We had not even spoken to a club but if he had been out for nine months or whatever then the deal would not have happened. We would probably have had to sell more players to cover off the gap of him staying here.”

In the end, the injury didn’t prevent a £21.4m move to Leicester City, making Maddison the most expensive Norwich City sale ever at the time (he’s since been surpassed by Ben Godfrey and Emi Buendia).

The money received that summer helped Webber and Norwich rebuild accordingly and, under the leadership of Daniel Farke, the Canaries earned promotion in 2018/19 despite losing their best player.

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Things are very different at Norwich City now

Since then, Norwich have finished rock bottom of the Premier League, won the Championship again, finished rock bottom in the top flight again, and have now spent the last three seasons in the second tier.

However, financially, the Canaries are in a much more stable place, and there is no necessity to sell players to stay afloat anymore.

We do expect Borja Sainz to depart Norwich this summer, though he is a player actively looking to move on. Meanwhile, Josh Sargent could also go, but Norwich are eager to keep hold of him.

Ben Knapper replaced Webber in 2023, and though he may have attracted some criticism from Norwich fans at times, there is no denying that Knapper is a firm negotiator who always gets the best deal for the club whenever they do sell.