Norris staying – for now

By: Jim | January 22nd, 2008

The Board of Plymouth Argyle have today released a statement acknowledging their receipt of a transfer request from star midfielder David Norris and indicating that the request has been refused. For those of you who have not been following this saga blow-by-blow, here’s a brief resume:

Norris joined Argyle in September 2002 from Bolton Wanderers for £25,000. Almost immediately he established himself as an integral part of Paul Sturrock’s Argyle and was instrumental in the second promotion season in 2004. He is generally regarded as being best wide on the right, though he also can (and it is suspected that like Beckham he prefers to) play centrally. Inevitably, his performances in the Championship have won him both plaudits and attention, including bids last summer from Southampton in excess of £1 million.

Both Saints, Ipswich and now crucially Leicester (managed by former Argyle incumbent Ian Holloway) are on the record as having submitted bids for Norris during the current window. The player himself, having been happy to commit to Argyle in the summer has become dissatisfied with a) Argyle’s apparent lack of ambition (underlined by the departure of striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to Wolves) and b) his current wage, compared to what is thought to be on offer elsewhere. (It is widely assumed that, should he move, Norris would treble his current earnings) Additionally, having indicated that negotiations over a new deal would take priority this January, PAFC have (apparently) shown no inclination to get round the table. Ipswich manager Jim Magilton has tabled two bids this window for the player, believed to be in the region of £1.5 and £1.8 million, both of which have been refused. The situation is complicated by the fact that any fee Argyle received for Norris would have to be split 50/50 with Bolton, due to a 50% sell-on clause in the deal that brought Norris to Home Park – and the likelihood that replacing a player of Norris’s calibre would cost a deal more than the £900,000 they would receive from the latest Ipswich bid.

So far, the Board have played hardball. Norris’s current deal doesn’t expire until July 2009. It may well be that Stapleton is simply trying to raise the price as high as he can: more likely, I think, is that he has taken the view that holding on to Norris for the rest of the season in the (increasingly dwindling) hope of a play-off push is worth the loss of probably £500K on his market value, especially given the fact that such a loss would be halved anyway due to the sell-on clause. That’s great if true: the risk, of course, is that the player becomes increasingly disillusioned and turns in a series of lacklustre performances on the pitch whilst destablising the dressing-room at the same time. It’s a high-wire act in the boardroom all right.

Other transfer rumours centre around Gyorgy Sandor, the Hungarian international playmaker, whose transfer to Argyle last night was (temporarily I hope) delayed because of a medical issue; Exeter striker Jamie Mackie; and an unknown but highly regarded French target man. Much to ponder and digest before the preview of the Portsmouth cup game later in the week!