Roma had a £20million bid for Norwich City right-back Max Aarons rejected during the January transfer window, a report from The Sun has claimed.

Having stayed with Norwich last summer despite their relegation from the Premier League, Aarons' future has been the subject of much speculation this season, with the likes of Manchester United, Everton and Bayern Munich among those credited with an interest in the 21-year-old.

Now however, it seems as though it was another club who made the first move when it came to a attempting to secure a permanent deal for Aarons in January.

According to this latest update, Roma made an offer of £20million for the defender during the most recent transfer window, which was ultimately rejected by the Championship league leaders.

Never the less, given the level of interest that there is in Aarons, it is still expected that the England Under 21 international will be leaving Carrow Road when the transfer window reopens in the summer.

It is thought that the Canaries will demand a fee in the regions of £30-35million for Aarons, who has so far made 117 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring four goals.

As things stand, there are still three-and-a-half years remaining on Aarons' contract with Norwich, putting them in a strong position to negotiate any offers that might come in for the full back in the next few months.

The Verdict

I don't think you can blame Norwich for rejecting that offer from Roma in January.

Aarons is obviously a key player for them, and with the position they are in in the Championship table, they will have wanted to keep their side together as much as possible, to give them the best chance they can of winning promotion back to the Premier League.

Indeed, when you consider what Norwich are seemingly hoping for in terms of a fee, you can understand this bid being rejected, since it appears to fell well short of the asking price.

Even so, with the level of interest there is in Aarons, it does seem hard to imagine Norwich will be able to keep him long term, meaning they ought to now be thinking about potential replacements for the 21-year-old come the summer.