Norwich City must surely be kicking themselves as Stuart Webber’s £23m error comes to light

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Over the last few years, Norwich City have done some pretty shrewd business in the transfer market, but one odd decision from Stuart Webber could come back to haunt the Canaries this summer.

During this transfer window, we’ve seen Norwich City add 11 players to their squad as Liam Manning looks to shape the team in his own image.

We are backing the Canaries to be one of the major players in the Championship promotion race this season, especially if they can resist the temptation to sell Josh Sargent.

But, it’s safe to say the club haven’t always done the right thing when it comes to the transfer market, and you only have to look at the story of Norwich City’s most expensive signing of all time to realise that.

• READ MORE: Every incoming and outgoing at Norwich City in the summer transfer window

Norwich City made a big mistake letting Christos Tzolis leave

Back in the summer of 2021, Norwich broke the bank to sign Christos Tzolis for £10m from Greek outfit PAOK. He arrived with immense hype but really struggled in his first season with the Canaries, registering just five goal contributions as Norwich suffered relegation from the Premier League.

From there, Norwich decided to loan Tzolis out to FC Twente for the first half of the 2022/23 campaign before giving him another try. Still unimpressed with the winger, they shipped him out to Fortuna Dusseldorf for the 2023/24 season, but sporting director Stuart Webber made one terrible mistake in that arrangement.

Included in the loan deal for Tzolis was a £3m purchase option. The Greek star bagged 24 goals and ten assists that season, and Dusseldorf swiftly and very happily triggered that release clause without hesitation.

To rub salt into the wound, Dusseldorf flipped Tzolis for profit just days later, selling him to Club Brugge for just over £5.5m (according to the Pink’Un).

Since then, Tzolis has become one of the top stars in the Belgian league, with 24 goals and 20 assists in 64 games for Brugge. It’s no surprise, then, that Crystal Palace are now sniffing around the 23-year-old, and there’s talk of a £26m bid for Tzolis this summer as the Eagles look to replace Eberechi Eze.

• READ MORE: Norwich City fans will not believe what’s happened to Jonathan Rowe as shock Marseille exit looms

Ben Knapper has a far better record of selling players for Norwich City

Clearly, giving up on a 21-year-old diamond in the rough was a bad decision by Webber. Even more so when you consider the hit on his value they took at the time, and on his potential future value.

But, those kinds of mistakes are few and far between now that Ben Knapper has stepped in as sporting director, with some of Norwich’s biggest sales facilitated by the 38-year-old.

In the last couple of years alone we’ve seen the Canaries sell wantaway star Borja Sainz for a relatively fair £14.25m, a struggling Adam Idah sold to Celtic for £9.5m, and Gabriel Sara join Galatasaray for a whopping £20m.

Add to that the smart sale of Jonathan Rowe, who was desperate to leave Norwich for Marseille, in a deal which netted the Canaries another £14m. Better yet, the agreement for Rowe included a 25% sell-on clause, which now looks set to be activated already after his bust-up with Adrien Rabiot.

In the transfer world, you win some and you lose some, and no club is exempt from the odd mistake. Still, there’s no doubt Webber will be watching Tzolis’ next move with his hands over his eyes.