Transfer Rumours The Rumour Mill, summer 2021

Apparently the €15m which has been referred to may include the wages Tzolis will receive so that the fee in question is as close to €11m as possible, with PAOK also wanting a 15% sell on clause.

 

Kieran Scott is joining Middlesborough as sports director at the end of this transfer window. He won't be replacing SW then.

 

Interesting move, given he was well thought of at NCFC by all accounts.

Webber extending his stay and Scott not prepared to wait longer than 12 months to step up a level?

That's a couple of senior management departures this summer, which is a bit worrying.

 

Mariela is Greek, and was heavily involved in the scouting/signing of Giannoulis apparently. Would make sense that Tzolis is her pick too.

 

Football Insider claim we're back in for Billings:

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-norwich-city-open-talks-to-sign-bournemouth-star-billing/

Suddenly there's a frenzy of transfer activity.

 

I'm not sure any of it's genuine though. Williams and Billing seem like rehashed rumours from relatively unreliable sources trying to get attention. The Pinkun hasn't had comment from the club about either rumour.

A £2m loan fee and wages too high for Southampton doesn't exactly sound like NCFC business, especially with no option to buy at the end of it. For backup on either flank, I can't help but feel there'll be an option elsewhere that could at least be permanent.

 

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Interesting mention of an offer which would change his life forever. Suspect that's not NCFC...

 

New rumour:


Fits the Norwich mould for transfers, targetting someone who plays for a slightly random international side to get the points for a work permit. Looks like he plays as an 8, but hard to tell given his experience.

 

The Pinkun take on Billing and Carter-Vickers, leaving the first slightly open while definitely eliminating the latter:

https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwic...mours-canaries-keen-on-spurs-defender-8204428

They are slightly more ambiguous about the Williams rumour though:

https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwich-city/ncfc-transfer-rumours-talks-held-united-full-back-8202616

 

And here's Dave Freezer to pour cold water on everything:



Nothing in Carter-Vickers link
Nothing has changed with Billing
There is interest in Brandon Williams, but not certain we'd make a move.

Edit: I see Rick's posted the full articles.

 

Someone on the Pinkun forum has done some digging through PAOK forums...

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So in theory, €8m up front, with another €3m to follow, 15% sell-on. The figure of €18.5m in the article seems to include his salary for 5 years. €1.5m a year is about £26k p/w.

https://forum.paokmania.gr/viewtopic.php?t=8022&p=1919385#p1919385

 

Not sure how accurate this is, but PAOK play Bohemians tomorrow in the Europa conference league, and the squad lists can be found here: https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaconferenceleague/match/2033051--bohemians-vs-paok/lineups/?iv=true

No Tzolis for PAOK. Didn't know Sinji Kagawa had ended up at PAOK. Kagawa setting up Oliveira, that's weird.

 

If Scott moving on indicates there's no Director of Football opportunity at Norwich for the foreseeable future then no problem. Webber sticking around is the positive i'll take from this.

 

It seems Tzolis could be on his way over soon:

Norwich have bid ACCEPTED for Tzolis #ncfc #paok
Journalists close to PAOK have informed us of a bid for Christos Tzolis from Norwich City accepted by the Greek side. Negotiations have been progressing over recent days, but with the added 20% of future fee clause in Norwich's offer, Panthessaloníkios have accepted a deal, that will surely please Norwich fans.

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As we understand, the Canaries have had no direct contact with Tzolis despite the winger's intent to leave. Manchester United were close to submitting an offer to PAOK earlier this year, after communication with Christos Tzolis' agent but nothing came of the Red Devils' interest.

We are told however, by Greek football outlet Sportime, that the young winger wanted to pursue a move to Norfolk once he heard of Norwich's initial offer - perhaps indicating an unrest amongst the player with regards to his future in the Greek Super League, despite him travelling with the squad to face Bohemians in a Europa Conference League qualifier.

The Pinkun Board had this about the source:

"This knockout kickoff seems fairly reputable and isn't just an ITK twitter account. They have almost 22k followers and seem to have writers covering different clubs, interviews with olympians and some good articles. Looks like a poor man's version of the athletic to me. Jamie Lauder is their Norwich city writer and he has just confirmed it to be true as well."

The outlet Sportime mentioned above is PAOK's local sports newspaper similar to the Pinkun, but they've been asked not to release any news that might upset the fans. Now why does that sound familiar?

 

I'm less convinced by the veracity of this account than the Pinkun, I mean here's their NCFC writer: https://twitter.com/itsjamielauder/with_replies 152 followers, and until this transfer hasn't tweeted anything remotely transfer-related. Not sure he's much more than a fan. Even if he has claimed to have been emailing Greek journalists, I'm not sure why they'd be giving him details rather than publish them themselves?

 

According to my Australian/Greek friend, drinking buddy just a couple of hours ago, Tzolis should be pronounced sjoulis. But he is usually wrong about most things.

 

I've heard "Jolis" is the correct way to say it, but can see sJolis.

 

Online I've read that tz should be pronounced like the sound at the end of cats, like the sound at the start of German words beginning in z (e.g. zum), and which English speakers find very difficult to make in the initial position. I've also read that the rest is like the sound of -olice in police, with the stress on the final syllable. But this is just what I've read online, so I can't claim any personal knowledge.

EDIT: I hope we don't end up discussing how to pronounce 'gazumped'.
EDIT: And I wish the newspapers would stop calling him a 'wonderkid'. Why can't they write 'Norwich might be considering an extravagant bid for an inexperienced teenager from one of the less prestigious European footballing leagues'?

 

Tzolis on the bench for PAOK tonight, who are losing to Bohemians. Two-legged tie, but going out of Europe this early would surely hurt PAOK.