Norwich City are being linked with a move for former Barnsley right-back Dimitri Cavare.

The Canaries are said to be preparing for the potential exit of Max Aarons in the summer who has attracted heavy interest from rival Premier League clubs and across Europe.

Roma were the latest side said to have had a bid rejected recently with reports Norwich also turned down an offer from Borussia Dortmund in the summer transfer window.

Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and both Manchester-based clubs have also been linked with a potential move for Aarons.

French football website Jeunes Footeux says the Canaries are keeping a close eye on Sion full-back Cavare, whose contract with the Swiss side expires in the summer.

Cavare was playing regularly in Ligue 1 with Lens at the age of 19 before a two-year spell with Rennes that was marred by injury.

The Guadeloupe international spent two-and-a-half years with the Tykes who bounced between the Championship and League One, accumulating 65 appearances and scoring three goals.

This season, the 26-year-old has played all but one Swiss Super League match for Sion and recently scored in consecutive games against Champions League side Young Boys and Lausanne Sport.

Portsmouth forward Gassan Ahamde was a roaring success in pre-season that led to him earning a season-long loan move, although reports suggest that he has played his final game in blue

Portsmouth striker Gassan Ahadme has reportedly played his final match for the Blues and is due to return to Norwich City in the coming days.

The cult hero of pre-season has been unable to turn his friendly success into competitive form and The News are reporting that the Spanish-born Moroccan is set to return to Carrow Road, with his loan expected to be cut short.

Ahadme put pen to paper on a season-long loan deal in July, hours after scoring twice in a friendly draw with a strong Bristol City side, taking him to seven goals in three friendlies as a trialist, all of which seeing him playing a limited number of minutes as Danny Cowley’s squad gradually progressed in fitness before the 2021/22 campaign started.

Shortly after signing, Ahadme was kept up front with John Marquis for a friendly away at Championship side Luton Town. Ahadme scored again as Pompey held the Hatters to a 1-1 draw a fortnight before the season started.

With a wide number of Pompey fans putting Moroccan flags into their Twitter names and even getting his own chant all before his competitive debut. There was a clamour and a hope that his loan from the Canaries would be a roaring success.

Much to his impressive performances and excellent goal rate, Ahadme started the opening two matches of the season in trips to Fleetwood Town and Millwall, where it quickly became apparent that the performances in competitive matches were simply a level lower than what was required to make an impact in a side wanting to get promoted out of League One.

Since starting the two opening trips of the campaign, Ahadme has made just seven further appearances, three in the league and only four minutes of League One football since the start of September, despite no injury issues of his own.

In October, there was hope of a lifeline when Pompey fielded a changed side to face a very strong Bournemouth team in a friendly. Back to his pre-season best, Ahadme got a brace in a 3-0 victory and while it left Danny Cowley encouraged, a collective shocker against Sutton United in the Papa John’s Trophy would overshadow all of Ahadme’s good work.

November did provide one sign of hope and a potential change of the tide when Ahadme starred in the Papa John’s Trophy win over Crystal Palace’s under-21s.

Ahadme scored a thumping header in between contributions for Miguel Azeez’s opener and George Hirst’s crucial third to book Pompey into the second round and a trip to Exeter City, which has been moved multiple times and is yet to be played.

Four days later, with squad options thin, Ahadme was introduced off the bench in the 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers for the last four minutes. In that, he created a big chance for Ronan Curtis in a cameo after a run of 11 league matches left in the cold.

To this day, Ahadme has not played again and all signs point to him spending the second half of the season with Norwich, or out on loan elsewhere.

Gassan Ahadme of Portsmouth FC celebrates after he scores a goal to make it 2-0 with team-mate Miguel Azeez during the Papa John's Trophy match between Portsmouth and Crystal Palace U21 at Fratton Park 

For a player who hoped to chip in with at least ten goals and help Pompey’s promotion charge, there will always be the sense of a missed opportunity whenever his name is mentioned in Pompey circles.

It is not for the want of trying. Cowley has regularly praised his character and work ethic throughout this season. Sadly, quality has to go with that and in Ahadme’s case, it only came in the matches that mattered least.

Cowley was perfectly right to take a gamble on a pre-season trialist who scored goals for fun, but sadly, it has to be filed under the ever-growing list of Pompey loans that proved to be unsuccessful in recent years.

Ahadme has played exactly 500 competitive minutes in a Pompey shirt, but it appears that his time at the club has come to an end half a season premature.

With Ahadme set to be out of the door, it does open a spot for not only a new striker, but a new loanee as well, with Cowley likely to sign one or two new recruits via the loan market next term.

His arrival made sense but given how it has gone, his exit seems even more logical.

Norwich City are open to selling Todd Cantwell next month. SunSport understands the Canaries have even been in touch with other clubs to discuss a switch - but as yet there has been no concrete interest.

It marks quite a fall from grace for the former England Under-21 star, who was deemed one of the country’s most promising players not so long ago.

Cantwell, 23, netted six Premier League goals during the Canaries’ last season in the top flight two years ago but has hardly featured this term, let alone found the back of the net.

He fell out with manager Daniel Farke, who was sacked in November, and was banished to the club’s Under-23s.

Farke's successor Dean Smith restored him to the first team but Cantwell did not impress when heading straight down the tunnel after being subbed in the 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa a fortnight ago.

The midfielder is out of contract in the summer, although Norwich have an option of extending his deal by an extra year.

With cash tight at Carrow Road, the club need to raise funds by selling players if they are to bring in new recruits.

Full-back Max Aarons, 21, looks likely to leave in the summer after attracting interest from some of Europe’s finest clubs in recent years.

Norwich rejected a loan offer from Borussia Dortmund last summer, while Roma and Barcelona were keen in transfer windows prior to that.

Norwich City manager Dean Smith said there should be a "magic number" of COVID-19 cases in a team for a Premier League fixture to be called off.

Norwich were beaten 2-0 at home on Tuesday by Smith's former team Aston Villa shortly after the league agreed new COVID-19 measures following a record 42 cases among players and staff at clubs over the past week.

Manchester United's match at Brentford was the second game postponed this season due to COVID-19 after Tottenham Hotspur's trip to Brighton & Hove Albion was called off last weekend.

"Our sporting director (Stuart Webber) spoke to the Premier League on guidance when we have symptomatic players around us," Smith told reporters.

"We played Tottenham, they had an outbreak. We played United, they had an outbreak. We wanted guidance over would it be fair on Villa if we had symptomatic players around us?

"I'm not saying all our players are symptomatic and have COVID ... Grant Hanley did his shoulder on Saturday and Ozan Kabak went down, so we have injured players, but we probably need a magic number telling us how many is enough."

Smith said he may not have enough fit players for the West Ham United game on Saturday.

"I'll find out over the next 48 hours from the medical staff about our cases. I've seen new Premier League protocols where we are tested every day. The heat is on, not just across football but across the country."

Norwich also face Arsenal and Crystal Palace this month before meeting Leicester City on New Year's Day.

According to a report from The Athletic (Subscription Required), Chelsea are not going to be able to recall Billy Gilmour in January from his loan move to Norwich City.

The Blues have undergone a slight stutter in form in recent weeks. Injuries have been at the epicentre of the blip in results, with the midfield looking at its worst since Thomas Tuchel arrived in January. Jorginho is playing despite a back issue as Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante are yet to return to action. Ruben Loftus-Cheek has also had to play several games without a break, while Trevoh Chalobah also picked up a knock while deputising in midfield against Watford.

However, Chelsea who would have had a ready made replacement in the popular young Scottish midfielder Gilmour, will be unable to recall him.  This is because he has now apparently played enough games to prevent a January recall break clause from being activated by his parent club.

Gilmour had a topsy turvy start to life at Carrow Road. He did feature in the opening games before Daniel Farke benched him for two months. It got to a point where Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was starting to get concerned about the lack of game-time for the Scot. However, since Dean Smith has been appointed at the club, the 20-year-old has played every single game, winning the man of the match award on multiple occasions.

 

 

The Giallorossi have two priorities for January: a midfielder and a quality substitute full-back to Rick Karsdorp.

According to Corriere dello Sport, Roma continue to pursue Max Aarons of Norwich City for the right flank.

With Bryan Reynolds most likely going out on loan in January, Tiago Pinto wants to secure a reinforcement for Jose Mourinho.

The English right-back is considered a fitting profile and an adequate substitute to Karsdorp whose excessive playing time has impacted the quality of his recent performances.

Aarons’ price-tag is estimated at around €20 million, but Roma are reportedly looking to bring him in on loan with an option to buy at the end of the season.

Norwich City transfer target Keinan Davis "needs to rebuild his career" by heading out on loan, according to BirminghamLive journalist Ashley Preece.

The Aston Villa striker is still awaiting his first senior start of the season having fallen down the pecking order in the Midlands.

What's the latest news involving Davis?

Football Insider claimed last month that Davis is on Norwich's radar ahead of the transfer window reopening for business in January.

The report suggests the Canaries could acquire the 23-year-old's services for as little as £2million when Dean Smith will enjoy the first opportunity to freshen up his squad since being appointed as the Norfolk club's head coach.

It is understood that Norwich are in pole position to sign Davis despite there also being interest from other clubs.

Smith worked with Davis during his time in charge at Villa Park, with the frontman being handed 49 appearances by the Canaries' new chief.

But Davis has been restricted to just 11 minutes of Premier League football this season and he is yet to feature under Villa head coach Steven Gerrard, who was appointed after Smith's sacking last month.

Billy Gilmour has praised the substitute performance that took place during Norwich City's recent 1-0 loss with Manchester United.

It took a 75th-minute penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo for the Red Devils to earn the three points, but the Canaries also had to deal with several injuries throughout the match.

Ben Gibson and Grant Hanley had to be replaced before and during the match due to different issues and the Norwich midfielder was impressed by the performances.

"Those two came in, it was disappointing for Grant getting the injury, but 'Lungi' (Jacob Sorensen) came in and Ozan Kabak was unbelievable," Gilmour said.

"Obviously Grant got the injury and Lungi came in and I thought he was unbelievable, composed and confident on the ball. For him to come in and do that job against Ronaldo and (Marcus) Rashford was unbelievable."

Norwich City remain bottom of the league following the defeat as they sit three points away from safety with Aston Villa their next opponents.