Norwich City ace "looks likely to leave" & prediction made on Man City agreement | OneFootball

Borja Sainz has been a bright spark in a dull Norwich City season

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 been slated to lose star midfielder Borja Sainz this summer – but only for an inflated transfer fee.

After qualifying for the Championship play-offs last term, the Canaries have had somewhat of an underwhelming campaign this year, with Norwich currently mid-table.

Sainz’s performances have been the highlight of a middling season, with the Spaniard notching 17 goals in 33 Championship appearances.

Borja Sainz predicted to leave Norwich City for driven-up transfer fee

With Norwich unlikely to finish in the play-offs this season, and, as such, missing out on promotion to the Premier League, Football League World's resident Canaries expert Zeke Downes believes Sainz will move on to pastures new at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

Whilst Zeke is fairly resigned to losing Sainz this summer, he believes the owners’ unwillingness to sell should allow Norwich to drive the Spaniard’s price up when negotiating with interested clubs in the upcoming transfer window.

When asked for his predictions for the upcoming transfer window by FLW, Zeke shared: “One prediction for something that will happen in the summer window is that we sell Borja Sainz.

“It’s not much of a prediction as he looks likely to leave anyway, so it's not really very out there or anything.

“But we're going to be needing that money to build on the squad, although the Attanasios (Norwich City's owners) have said that we don't need to sell.

“So it will be interesting to see if we can drive the price up.”

Loanee Jacob Wright backed to remain at Norwich City next season

Whist predicting Norwich’s star player to depart this summer, Zeke also believes there is one player likely to join the Canaries in the upcoming transfer window.

Loanee Jacob Wright has impressed since arriving from Manchester City in January, playing in all but one of a possible eight Championship games.

The Canaries made sure to insert an option to make the deal permanent this summer, with Wright impressing in his first loan spell away from Manchester City.

As such, Zeke believes Norwich will look to keep the midfielder on a permanent basis at Carrow Road, citing the need to replace the potential departure of Jacob Sorensen and the aging Kenny McLean.

Sorensen is into the final months of his deal in Norfolk, with his injury-hit time at Norwich leaving many fans unimpressed.

33-year-old McLean is currently under contract until at least 2026, with Norwich able to extend the midfielder’s deal by a further year if they so desire.

Zeke continued: “The second prediction would be that we sign Jacob Wright on a permanent.

“I know that we have the option, and there's obviously a reason why we've brought him in on loan with the option.

“He's now already playing a lot of minutes, and with (Jacob) Sorenson moving and (Kenny) McLean getting older, I just think that Wright is who they're wanting to play in that number six role.

“I think it's really good forward planning and we will make that transfer permanent, I think.”