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Potential Hammer? Norwich City full-back

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Martin OlssonWho are ya?

Martin Olsson is a Swedish left-back who currently plays for the recently relegated Norwich City. He played in 34 league games for the Canaries -and scored in a cup game – this season. Prior to his time at Norwich, he played for Blackburn Rovers until 2013, making 117 appearances and scoring three goals. He was runner up for Norwich’s player of the season this year.

He’s still under contract at Carrow Road, but with their lack of manager as well as the relegation, there’s probably some room for moving and shaking – but unfortunately, on the subject of relegation, he has been relegated twice. He’s also previously played under Sam, so presumably the man understands how to hoof a ball.

Big Sam, spend some money!

It’s tricky to establish this player’s worth as he was signed for Norwich on an ‘undisclosed fee.’ Previous reports suggest that last time we attempted to sign him that we offered somewhere in the region of £2 million. Given that another rumour suggests Allardyce has only £20 million to spend this summer, Olsson could be a bargain—but it is essential that every single penny is spent wisely. Also worth remembering Adrian was on a free.

Believability factor

I’m no expert, but I normally believe that there’s no smoke without fire. If we’re seeing a lot of rumours swirl around someone, there probably is some truth to it. In this case there isn’t even much smoke. There are barely any rumours. I’d be surprised if he joined the Hammers, but for some reason we’ve been linked to him in every transfer window since the dawn of time. I don’t know who is starting these rumours every single transfer window, but whoever it is really wants to see Olsson at Upton Park.

Game changer?

Obviously Norwich had a great season, defensively speaking…well, okay, they didn’t – and this is where Olsson gets a bit confusing. He wasn’t even that far up the pecking order at a relegated club, but yet he plays for his country.

He’s a left back, and whilst we’ve been lucky to have gotten what we have from Joey O’Brien and George McCartney, neither is a mainstay in their position in the same way Winston Reid and Guy Demel are. We went through two left backs this season, neither of which worked out, so perhaps it would be nice to have some stability in that role – but I don’t think Olsson is that player.

I am not sure what he’d bring to the role that we haven’t seen from others this season, but he seems to be well-liked and respected by Norwich fans, so perhaps he could be a decent buy—if the price is right, of course. And by right, I mean low.

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1 comment

  • Spyinthesky says:

    Always thought it was Jonas Olsson that we seemed to be linked to this past couple years, must have missed this particular (until recently) link if it was also being bandied around. 27, decent record could be worse I guess, decent left backs aren’t exactly growing on trees.

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