Norwich City eyeing up Millwall transfer agreement

The Canaries are keen to add George Long as a replacement for Luton-bound Tim Krul

Norwich City are seemingly set to lose a veteran of their squad in the next few days as Tim Krul is being lined up for a move to Premier League newboys Luton Town.

The Hatters had eyed up Birmingham City’s first-choice goalkeeper and ex-Norwich ‘keeper John Ruddy as competition for another new signing in-between the sticks in the form of Thomas Kaminski, but they have now seemingly moved on to Krul despite being in negotiations with the Blues.

As first reported by Football Insider, Luton were in advanced talks with the Canaries to sign Krul for their squad, with the 35-year-old in the final year of his contract with City and possesses international experience.

Per the Pink’Un, Krul will have a medical ahead of a move but that will leave David Wagner in the market to find some goalkeeper competition for Angus Gunn – although the stopper of choice will likely have to settle for being second in command.

According to Alan Nixon though, Norwich already have a target in mind and they are set to move for Millwall’s George Long as Krul’s replacement.

Millwall are set to let Long go, per Nixon, after they had goalkeeping developments themselves in recent weeks, with the 29-year-old lined up to push Gunn for a spot in Wagner’s starting 11.

Long has over 300 career professional appearances to his name and was highly-rated as a teenager, making his debut for Sheffield United at the age of 17 and was capped for England twice at youth level.

He was loaned out to Oxford United, Motherwell and AFC Wimbledon during his time at Bramall Lane as well as making 100 league appearances for the Blades, but in 2018 Long moved on permanently to Hull City.

Long was a regular starter for just one of his three seasons with the Tigers, playing 65 times in all competitions before switching to Millwall in 2021.

After waiting over a whole year for his league debut for the Lions, Long played 37 times in the 2022-23 season under Gary Rowett as they narrowly missed out on the Championship play-offs, but he now finds himself out of favour in South Bermondsey.

What has Gary Rowett said on George Long’s Millwall future?

Following Milllwall’s acquisition of Matija Sarkic from Wolves before the start of the 2023-24, Long was displaced as the club’s first-choice stopper after some errors in matches last season.

Surprisingly though, he was not even in the matchday squad for their opening game of the season against Middlesbrough, with Bartosz Bialkowski utilised as Sarkic’s backup on the bench.

Lions manager Gary Rowett clarified Long’s situation after the 1-0 win, stating that he was free to talk to other clubs as he has ambitions of still being a first-choice goalkeeper – although he’s unlikely to get that at Carrow Road.

“It’s really, really simple – I spoke to George and he’s very keen to be a number one somewhere if that opportunity arises,” Rowett told the Southwark News last week.

“And I feel that’s fair for him. He’s worked very hard to be in the number one position and by bringing Matija in it obviously pushes him down that order through no fault of his own.

“I had a conversation with him and just said until the window shuts we’ll just make sure we’re all clear on what the opportunity may look like if George doesn’t get that chance. I think we’ll sit down and re-assess that.”