This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
FLW’s Norwich City fan pundit Zeke Downes believes it will be difficult for the club to recoup the money that they spent to sign Christos Tzolis.
The Greek arrived from PAOK in 2021 to much fanfare in a deal reportedly worth £10 million.
But the 20-year old featured only 14 times in the Premier League, with only three of those appearances amounting to a starting berth.
It was an underwhelming campaign for the club in general, but especially so for the youngster.
It has now been reported that the Canaries are hoping to sell the player for an equivalent fee of what they paid for him last summer, with the likes of Club Brugge seen as the most likely destination for his services.
Although there is an acceptance that a loan deal may need to be secured, our Norwich fan pundit believes that a deal with an obligation to buy could yet be arranged.
The supporter does admit that earning back the money spent on the Greece international will, however, be quite difficult.
“It’s hard to know whether Tzolis is worth €10 million because he’s played only a handful of matches,” Downes told Football League World.
“But, when we bought him, his potential was huge and he was touted as one of Europe’s brightest young players.
“Then a lot of things went wrong and he didn’t play any matches and I don’t know why.
“But I can’t really see it working out now and I think it is likely that he will leave on loan, but then they’ll have an obligation [to buy].
“I don’t know whether it’s going to be as high as €10 million cause that’s how much we spent on him and I don’t think we’re going to get that back.”
Norwich are preparing for life back in the Championship following their relegation last season.
Dean Smith will be hoping to build a squad ready to earn promotion straight back to the Premier League, with Tzolis looking increasingly unlikely to be a part of those plans.
The Verdict
Tzolis’ move to Norwich simply hasn’t worked out and it is now time for the club to cut their losses.
While a loan move to a Championship rival could help settle him in English football without the same pressure, that is still a risky pursuit that is also likely not worth the effort.
Given the state of the European market, it will also be difficult for Norwich to earn the same kind of transfer figure that they spent to sign him.
That means it could rely on the club to take the hit of a significant loss to move on from this absolute miss of a transfer.