Norwich City continue to sit comfortably top of the Championship summit, boasting a 14-point gap between themselves and Swansea City in the third place.

With the Norfolk club on the brink of promotion back to the Premier League, it is critical that they learn from last year's mistakes and ensure they maintain a competitive squad that will be able to survive the rigours of the the country's top tier.

One area that certainly needs addressing when the eventuality of promotion becomes a reality is the striking department.

Teemu Pukki has once again shone in the Championship, but last season proved that the Finland international was not the sole answer in what proved to be a goal scoring crisis at Carrow Road.

 

 

Norwich have shown a reluctancy to spend in the past and the ongoing pandemic would justify another window of very limited action.

However, the financial rewards of becoming an established Premier League club should inspire the club to invest in an exciting new striker, who can perhaps offer something different to the 31-year-old.

Here we take a look at three potential options....

Josh King

Josh King has barely got a look in at Everton after joining from AFC Bournemouth at the start of February. The Norway international has proven himself countless times in the Premier League and Norwich could be the club to help revitalise his career.

It remains unseen what his future holds at Everton, but he is yet to start a game for the Toffees and has accumulated a mere 117 minutes of action since his winter move.

With his contract expiring in the summer, cost is seemingly not an issue.

King also provides an alternative option to Pukki, being a forward who can vary his game-play.

He is quite comfortable running in behind like the Finnish forward, but he is also a physical presence who can hold the ball up and gets others involved. His ability to operate on the wing is another appealing factor.

In such a system, King could play alongside Pukki, adding to the talent that already surrounds the frontman.

Ivan Toney

Norwich City's second-tier dominance was being matched by Brentford in the early part of the season, but the Bees' slight derailment means that they are likely to settle for the play-offs once more.

One player that has been absolutely integral to yet another Brentford promotion push is 24-year-old striker Ivan Toney.

The former Peterborough United man has 28 league goals and nine assists to his name this season, contributing far more goals than any other Championship player.

However, Toney is not confined to his goal-scoring capabilities and his physical presence and undoubted technical ability, has caused defences problems all season.

There were questions asked when the 24-year-old was brought in to replace Ollie Watkins at the start of the season, but he has been an absolute revelation, and should Brentford not achieve promotion this season, a whole host of top tier clubs will be very interested.

Georgios Giakoumakis

Perhaps an unknown entity to most is Greek striker Georgios Giakoumakis.

The 26-year-old is enjoying his most prolific spell of his career thus far with Eredivisie club VVV-Venlo, scoring 24 times in 25 games this season.

Giakoumakis' ability as a natural goal-scorer has truly been unveiled this year, breaking records in the process.

In January, the Greece international scored 11 goals, meaning he had scored the most goals in a calendar month since 1985.

He is another player who offers something different to what Norwich already have and is a player who tends to drop deeper to help with ball progression, possessing the technical ability to suit the Canaries' possession-based football.