"No disrespect to Norwich City" – Swindon Town star urged to avoid Canaries transfer | OneFootball

The young forward has attracted interest from Championship side Norwich City

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 made an approach to sign Swindon Town youngster Botan Ameen.

That’s according to a report from The Moonraker, who revealed that the Championship side have tabled a six-figure bid.

The 18-year-old caught attention after breaking into the Robins’ first team this season, making 14 League Two appearances.

We asked our Swindon Fan Pundit, Ciaran, whether he believes his club can hold onto the young star, or whether Norwich would be a good move.

Swindon youngster urged to consider Swindon stay

Speaking to Football League World, Ciaran said: “I think Norwich wouldn't be the worst move, but I don't think it's the best move for him.

“Obviously, Norwich have produced a few players out there in their own academy, or players have come into the academy; they have progressed to the first team.

“So, there is that option there if you're good enough, and I really do think he's good enough, but I think he's probably better off getting experience.

“He'd go to Norwich and likely be under-23s and then eventually be sent out on loan, where at the moment he's got an opportunity to play quite a lot of first-team football, which I think is more valuable experience for a young lad.

“He's technically very, very good. He just needs to get that League Two side to his game, and the only way you're really going to get that is in a League Two side.

“I think if he stayed at least another year with the contacts Ian Holloway's got and the clubs that are already watching him, if Norwich are interested this year and he's only played a handful of games, only started a couple, most coming of the bench and just being involved, and a Championship club's coming for you already, if you can hit the ground running, have a really good year next year and you will be playing more games, think of the clubs that could come in for you after that. You could be looking at top-end Premier League clubs.

“So, I personally think he should hold out, stay at Swindon a year at least, maybe even two, and develop his game as a regular first team player, because I think that will serve him well going further in his career.

“Again, though, footballers' careers are very, very short. Sometimes, you've seen it before, players have turned down a move to a Championship side, or a move hasn't progressed as they thought it would, and that was their one opportunity.

“But I think he has got a very, very bright future in the game. This isn't going to be his one and only opportunity. There is going to be big, big opportunities for him in the future.

“And I think personally, no disrespect to Norwich City, but in a year, we could be talking about going to a Man City, a Manchester United, a Brighton, Bournemouth; established Premier League clubs.

“I think that's probably where he's best served. I think at Norwich he'll just go and do under-23 development.

“We had a player a few years ago, Will Randall, who left us at Swindon to go to Wolverhampton just to do under-23 development there essentially, and he ended up back up playing in League Two and, before longe, the National League.

“It didn't serve him as well, and I think he would have been better off staying in League Two and could have become a better player for it and played higher up for longer.

“So I think he should hold out for a year, give Ian Holloway everything, and I think Ian Holloway has the contacts, he'll even just get you the move and a good move for the player and the club itself.”

Big call for Ameen to make this summer

It may go in Swindon’s favour that Ameen has already had experience in a top Championship academy set up with Queens Park Rangers earlier in his career, so is unlikely to be starstruck by Norwich’s interest.

Nevertheless, the offer, which will likely come with a financial incentive for Ameen, will be difficult to turn down.

But Ciaran does have a point: the end goal must always be senior minutes as Ameen enters adulthood and nothing will do him better than racking up appearances, goals and assists in that arena.

Managers don’t come much more experienced than Holloway so, if he’s throwing him in, Ameen is clearly ready.

As such, there’s likely little left for him to learn at academy level, and it’s all now about getting experience on the pitch; the meritocracy that football is, he will climb to his natural level in time.