"We always miss him" - Norwich City urged against Kenny McLean transfer exit situation | OneFootball

The Canaries' captain has been excellent since moving to the club from Aberdeen in 2018.

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...

Norwich City have had a very inconsistent end to 2024, and after starting the season relatively well, the last few weeks have been difficult.

Johannes Hoff Thorup has had some excellent moments since making the switch to Carrow Road in the summer, but his team have not quite hit the heights that he would have hoped for by this point, and the January transfer window can not come soon enough for the Dane.

There are plenty of stars in the ranks at Norwich at the moment, and some will be targeted next month by other clubs, and there will be some difficult decisions made by Thorup on who can go and who must stay.

Verdict made on Norwich's most invaluable player

The Canaries will already be preparing for new signings and player sales, and Borja Sainz's name will be one that comes up plenty throughout the window.

However, despite reports that the East Anglian side will not let go of the winger, there will be a price that is too much to turn down, and it would not be a surprise to see the Spaniard leave if the right money comes in.

Nevertheless, Football League World has asked their Norwich Fan Pundit, Zeke Downes, which player he believes is the most invaluable to the club right now, and can not be sold at any price.

He told FLW: "I personally think the most invaluable player at our club is Kenny McLean. Obviously, it's not like he would be sold for very much anyway, but he's one of our best players, he's key to how the midfield ticks over and whenever he isn't there, we always miss him.

"We always try to get in players to replace him, and then he always manages to end up being back in the team because no one can do what he does."

Zeke continued: "He's never injured. Obviously, he's had a couple of red cards, which I think were a little bit soft. But there's no one around that can do what he does and there's a big drop-off to our next guys.

"The fact that he's not worth very much money means that we just need to keep him for as long as we can, really.

"Obviously, with players like Borja Sainz, he’s worth a lot of money and if a bid that's big enough comes in for him, then I think he would have to leave."

McLean is incredibly consistent

While the rest of his team have perhaps struggled to stay at a consistent level throughout the season, the same can not be said for McLean, and he has been a very steady player in Thorup's team.

While he does not often have his name up in lights, the 32-year-old is a leader, and has been ever since joining from Aberdeen in 2018.

He has, like Zeke stated, suffered from a couple of unfortunate suspensions in 2024/25, but these are not a reflection on his character, and he has been an incredibly crucial cog in the Norwich system this campaign.

Selling McLean would not be of much use to the Canaries, and he has not let age define him and has continued to improve himself as the years have gone on.

The Scotland international has a contract until 2026, with the option for another year after that, and seeing out his career at Carrow Road is seemingly the way he wants to go, and Norwich supporters would be more than happy to see that happen.