Birmingham, West Brom and Middlesbrough miss out as Championship rivals agree £2.5m deal

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Just days after Norwich City completed the signing of former Swansea defender Harry Darling, Liam Manning’s outfit have moved another big step towards reinforcing a backline breached 68 times in the Championship last season.

That Johannes Hoff Thorup’s Canaries were the only second-tier team apart from champions Leeds United to score over 70 goals while still finishing in the bottom half of the table speaks volumes about a defence which wrecked any hopes of a play-off charge.

Norwich City had the Championship’s second-highest scoring attack but also its sixth-worst defence.

So no wonder Norwich jumped at the chance to sign Harry Darling when his contract at Swansea expired. Now, with Jakov Medic seemingly on his way to East Anglia as well, director Ben Knapper appears to have snapped up two potential first-team central defenders in the space of just 48 hours.

EFL Analysis can confirm, via football correspondent Graeme Bailey, that West Brom, Middlesbrough and newly-promoted Birmingham City were all in the mix to sign Medic this summer.

That the Ajax misfit has now chosen Norwich ahead of some of the Championship’s biggest and most ambitious clubs, then, feels like a massive statement of intent from Knapper, Manning and co.

Norwich City beat Middlesbrough, West Brom and Birmingham in Jakov Medic race

Highly-respected Dutch reporter Mike Verweij, writing in De Telegraaf, reports that Norwich have reached an agreement with Eredivisie powerhouses Ajax.

Norwich will pay slightly more than £2 million, rising to £2.5 million, for a Croatian centre-back who played Bundesliga football last season at VFL Bochum.

Formerly of Nurnberg and St Pauli, Medic leaves Ajax after only six Eredivisie appearances. He did at least make some sort of a lasting impression. The well-travelled 26-year-old won Ajax’s Goal of the Season award back in 2024 thanks to a ferocious debut strike against Heracles.

Harry Darling once broke into double figures from centre-back under Liam Manning at MK Dons. Clearly, having found the net 17 times himself across his career, Medic is another who could help ease the goalscoring burden on Carrow Road stars Borja Sainz and Josh Sargent.

“I’m delighted. It’s been a long time coming after a lot of conversations,” Darling tells the official Norwich website. “I’m happy to finally get it sorted and I’m looking forward to getting started. 

“Liam being in charge, I worked with him before at MK Dons so I didn’t need convincing too much about the style of play. I really enjoyed it last time working with him.”

Championship rivals must look elsewhere as Medic swaps Ajax for Carrow Road

West Brom were the club mentioned most prominently in the Dutch press – alongside Norwich, of course – as the race to secure Medic’s signature sped up.

The Baggies also like FC Sion’s Gora Diouf. And with his contract expiring at the Swiss Super League outfit, the 21-year-old Senegalese may emerge as West Brom’s go-to alternative as a Medic medical at Carrow Road edges closer.

EFL Analysis understands that a managerless Middlesbrough like Paderborn stopper Calvin Brackelmann as Raj van den Berg attracts interest away from Riverside.

As for Birmingham City, Rangers misfit Ben Davies could return to St Andrews after playing a massive role in their League One title-winning campaign under namesake Chris Davies.