£1.5m Norwich City signing had a very quick fall from grace after arriving at Carrow Road | OneFootball

The signing of winger Ben Marshall in the summer of 2018 did not work out the way Norwich City would have hoped.

It is fair to say that Daniel Farke had a decent record in the transfer market during his time as manager of Norwich City.

Having only previously managed in the lower leagues in Germany, Farke arrived at Carrow Road as a relative unknown when he was announced as Alex Neil's permanent replacement in May 2017, but he certainly made a big impact.

After a disappointing first season, the German went on to deliver two Championship titles for Norwich in 2019 and 2021, and while he was unable to keep the club in the Premier League, he will forever be fondly remembered in Norfolk.

With the help of sporting director Stuart Webber, recruitment was a key factor behind Farke's success, with Tim Krul, Christoph Zimmermann, Mario Vrancic, Kenny McLean, Marco Stiepermann, Emi Buendia and Teemu Pukki among those to join the Canaries during his tenure and establish themselves as firm fan favourites.

However, Webber and Farke did not always get it right in the transfer market, and winger Ben Marshall will go down as one of that just did not work out.

Ben Marshall signing did not work out for Norwich City

After a 14th-placed finish in his first year in charge, Farke oversaw a rebuild in the summer of 2018, and Marshall was one of those to make the move to Carrow Road, along with the likes of Krul, Buendia and Pukki.

Marshall joined Norwich from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £1.5 million, signing a four-year contract, and given that he had demonstrated his quality at Championship level over the years, he looked to be an exciting signing for the club for a relatively affordable price.

After a number of successful loan spells early in his career, Marshall made his name during his stints at Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers but he'd fallen out of favour at Wolves under Nuno Espirito Santo so he arrived in Norfolk with a point to prove.

It looked as though Marshall was set to reignite his career with the Canaries after he started the first four games of the 2018-19 season at right-back but he was then dropped suddenly by Farke, and he was even frequently left out of the matchday squad altogether over the subsequent months.

Unfortunately for Marshall, Norwich found their form during his absence from the starting line-up and began to emerge as serious automatic promotion contenders, making it even harder for him to force his way back into the team.

Marshall made his first appearance in over four months as he started in the 1-0 home defeat to Portsmouth in the FA Cup third round in early January, but rather than being the start of a turnaround in fortunes for the former England youth international, it turned out to be the last time he would be seen in a Canaries shirt.

Less than two weeks later, Marshall joined Millwall on loan, just as he had done in the previous January transfer window during his time at Wolves, and his contract at Norwich was cancelled by mutual consent in the summer following their promotion to the Premier League.

Marshall only made six appearances for the Canaries and registered just one assist, so he was a costly transfer mistake for the club, but it would later emerge that there were deeper reasons behind his struggles at Carrow Road.

Ben Marshall deal was unfortunate for Norwich City

Marshall decided to walk away from professional football following his departure from Norwich and after he signed for non-league side Stoneclough in January 2020, he opened up on his spell at the club.

The 33-year-old admitted that he had strong reservations about joining the Canaries and he revealed that he suffered from depression after losing his enjoyment of football during his time in Norfolk.

"The conversation I had was that I didn't really want to go to Norwich because it's the other end of the earth," Marshall said, quoted by the Eastern Daily Press.

"I said to my agent that I want four years and a decent whack (of money). They said yeah. So I went up and from day one, I knew from walking in (that it wasn't going to work).

"Days off would class as being in on a Sunday and then being in at 3pm on a Monday. It was 24 hours and that was a day off. It didn't click really and he (Daniel Farke) wanted to play me right-back.

"I actually started the first three games at right-back and I got torn up. But at Blackburn, I got player of the season playing at right-back and scored nine goals or whatever it was. It just didn't click."

"I was living by myself in this 'castle'. When I got home from training, all I wanted to was to do was sleep. I didn't think anything of it until the doctor pulled me in and said 'you're showing signs of depression'," Marshall continued.

"At Blackburn, even if I was rough, I'd still be the perky one. At Norwich, I'd get in, have a coffee and just sit there on my phone playing Candy Crush. I was in the middle of nowhere, I didn't know anyone."

It was clearly a difficult period for Marshall and he deserves credit for speaking so honestly about his struggles. The move would prove to be the beginning of the end of his professional career and one that simply didn't work out for either party.