Brighton boss Graham Potter says Danny Welbeck and Steven Alzate will miss his side's upcoming clash against Norwich City.

The Seagulls will not be at full strength for the contest at Carrow Road as Potter has confirmed that Steven Alzate (ankle) and Danny Welbeck (hamstring) will miss out.

Alzate suffered his injury in the 1-1 draw to Crystal Palace at the end of September, as did Welbeck, and Potter said at today's press conference that both will undergo surgery on their respective injuries.

Yves Bissouma extended his knee in the 2-1 triumph over Leicester City in September and has missed all of Brighton's matches since then but could be available, as will Enock Mwepu who hurt his groin in the warm-up before Brighton's League Cup clash with Swansea City nearly three weeks ago.

Adam Webster has been out with a hamstring injury for more than a month could also be back for the Norwich clash.

Welbeck and Alzate are likely to be out for some time and will definitely miss their next league games against Man City and Liverpool this month.

Arsenal and Liverpool are both reportedly keeping an eye on the contract situation of Norwich City midfielder Todd Cantwell.

As is reported by Transfermarkt, Cantwell’s Norwich City contract is due to expire in the summer of 2022. That leaves him with a big decision to make over his future at Carrow Road.

Cantwell was highly rated during Norwich’s previous stint in the Premier League. Now 23-years-old, he’s been unable to have any notable impact for the struggling side this season to date.

Still, flying under the radar hasn’t done Cantwell’s stock within English football any harm, with Fichajes reporting that both Arsenal and Liverpool are keeping an eye on his situation.

The jury is still out on Cantwell and there will be some who have doubts over whether he is good enough to be playing for a big six side, certainly one with Liverpool’s ambitions – all due respect to Arsenal.

That said, should an opportunity present itself for either party to sign him on the cheap, as a result of his precarious contract situation, you can certainly see the logic in one of them taking advantage.

Cantwell is a young player with untapped potential. Even if he is unable to really establish himself with one of the big boys, you’d expect him to have decent resale value in the future.

The uncertainty surrounding the future of Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber is being monitored closely by 'leading clubs' according to a national newspaper report.

That's according to the Daily Mail, with their sports agenda editor Mike Keegan claiming Webber is attracting interest from 'a host of leading clubs' and that the Welshman plans to make a decision on his future towards the end of the season.

City supporters have known the situation was bubbling under the surface since the 37-year-old signed a three-year contract in September 2019 and said it was likely he would move on to a new challenge in 2022.

The former Liverpool head of academy recruitment has ambitions to work at the top level and to potentially take his skills overseas, and also has plenty of interests outside of football, such as a keen interest in Formula One.

Much has happened since that announcement though, both a Premier League relegation and a Championship title triumph, as well as Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic which have had such major impacts in the UK.

So after a return to the top flight was sealed last season, Webber revealed that he was open to potentially staying beyond the summer of 2022, if City wanted him to.

Head coach Daniel Farke signed a new four-year contract in July and Webber was asked for the latest on his situation at a Carrow Road press conference.

“I said at the end of last season I am very grateful to work here. It is a special club,” he said.

“No conversations have been had and I am not expecting to have any between now and the end of the (summer) window certainly. My position is not important.

"It doesn’t affect the rhythm of what happens day-to-day. If it did, that would be different. It is probably more a conversation point outside the club.”

After making his name progressing through the ranks at Wrexham, Webber was at Liverpool between 2009 and 2012 before going on to senior scouting roles at QPR and Wolves.

He moved to Huddersfield as head of football operations in 2015 and brought David Wagner in as head coach from Borussia Dortmund II, leaving for Norwich a couple of months before the Terriers earned promotion via the Championship play-offs.

His success with the Canaries is well documented, bringing previous reports of interest from Manchester United and Southampton when City were in the Championship.

A reminder of that success was provided on Thursday when Webber was alongside majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones to officially open the club's revamped Lotus Training Centre.

With the facilities having been vastly improved in recent years after the new structure put in place following the dismissal of Alex Neil as manager in 2017, putting an emphasis on the need for long-term planning as a self-funded club.

Working closely with Farke, the Canaries have developed young talents to sell for big money in recent years, including James Maddison, Emi Buendia and Ben Godfrey.

Despite Covid-19 creating a loss of around £35million in expected income, bouncing straight back to the Premier League allowed City to spend around £50m in the summer transfer window, in conjunction with the sale of Buendia to Villa for an initial £33m.

The signings of internationals including Christos Tzolis, Milot Rashica and Josh Sargent, as well as Mathias Normann and Ozan Kabak on loan with a view to a permanent deal, earned Webber plenty of praise.

 

Sheffield United defender John Egan has been impressed by Norwich City youngster Andrew Omobamidele while with the Republic of Ireland.

Egan is singing his praises ahead of Saturday evening's showdown with Azerbaijan in Baku.

The 28-year-old Sheffield United defender said: “He's a fantastic player, a fantastic young man.

“He came in, got his chance and took it with both hands. I thought he was brilliant in the two games.

“For someone so young, he is so composed and the best thing about him is he keeps his head down, works really hard, doesn't get too ahead of himself. He has a great attitude that will stand him in good stead in his career."

Norwich City are delighted to reveal plans for the next stage of development at the club’s Lotus Training Centre.

Designed by Norwich-based company LSI, the latest planning applications comprise a new recovery hub, administration and media facility.

Plans are also in place to re-clad several existing buildings to bring unity between the old and new across the Hethersett site.

LSI Architects were responsible for the previous on-site development of the academy and first team gym facilities that were completed in 2019.

The new recovery hub will contain a swimming pool, with additional aqua therapy areas, including hot and cold recovery baths, an underwater treadmill and camera systems to monitor movements.

The new administration and media building will provide a permanent location for operations and media staff that are currently located in a temporary modular building at the front of the site, whilst also providing a new campus reception for visitors.

Plans are in place for the scheme to be clad in brickwork at ground floor level and features a brick colonnade to the main entrance with areas of brickwork detailing, with the upper storey clad in Siberian Larch timber cladding to align with the recently completed academy and gym facilities.

Timber fins have been introduced within the timber cladding to emphasise the verticality, a common motif across all the new buildings and interior interventions across the campus.

Zoe Ward, business and projects director at Norwich City, said: “As part of our ongoing and long-term vision across all areas of the football club, we know the importance of continuing to plan for the future.

“This latest stage of planning at the Lotus Training Centre will see the introduction of an administration and media provision, as well as a state-of-the-art recovery and hydrotherapy facility over the coming years.

“We’re extremely proud to have one of the leading training facilities across the country. This next step of development is another important step towards building a successful long-term future, both on and off the pitch.”

Rob Ruffles, senior associate at LSI Architects, added: “We’re delighted to be continuing our work with the football club, planning and developing this latest phase of works at the Lotus Training Centre.

“Whilst the facilities satisfy a variety of different functional needs, we have been keen to ensure that the principals of biophilic design are embedded across the site.

“This unity will continue to support the club with the dynamic, contemporary and professional facilities that will help to attract the best talent and the best developers of talent.”

Manchester United are reportedly set to make a move for a new right-back in the January window after missing out on first-choice target Kieran Trippier over the summer.

The Red Devils were heavily linked with a move for Trippier, but Atletico Madrid refused to accept a bid below the 30-year-old’s £34m asking price, putting an end to any negotiations.

As a result, United’s hierarchy has drawn up a shortlist of alternative options as they look to add cover and competition for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, with Rangers pair James Tavernier and Nathan Patterson potential candidates, according to 90min.

However, another name on Solskjaer’s wishlist is believed to be Norwich City’s highly-rated full-back Max Aarons.

The report states that: “Another player on United’s radar is Norwich City’s Max Aarons, who neighbourhood rivals Manchester City have been following closely for a long time.

“United’s scouting team already put a dossier together on him, which reads very positively for the England Under-21 international.”

Aarons has established himself as one of English football’s most exciting young full-backs over the last couple of campaigns after rising through the ranks at boyhood club Norwich.

Since making his debut for the Canaries back in 2018, the £19.8m-rated beast has made 137 appearances in all competitions, scoring five goals and providing 13 assists along the way.

His outstanding displays at club level has earned Aarons 12 caps for Englands U21 side, and he’s long been linked with a transfer away from Carrow Road, but his former national team boss Aidy Boothroyd revealed the speculation has not affected the youngster.

“He’s an unassuming guy,” said Boothroyd. “All the speculation would get to most people, but it hasn’t to him. He gives 100 percent in training and matches, in all the games I’ve seen him at Norwich he’s been outstanding and had a real energy and go about him.

“So that transfer talk hasn’t affected him or appears not to have, and he’s been great here. He just gets on with it. I think he’s a really big talent and again, like a lot of the players here, he’s nowhere near finished in his development.”

Although United’s current right-back Wan-Bissaka is extremely competent in a defensive sense, the 23-year-old has often struggled in the final third of the pitch, producing just managed 0.2 shots and 0.7 key passes per match in his career so far.

Mathias Normann will miss Norway’s upcoming international fixtures as a precautionary measure after reporting some minor abdominal pain following the weekend’s game against Burnley.

Normann had initially been called up to feature in Norway’s World Cup qualifiers against Turkey and Montenegro across October.

The 25-year-old will now spend the upcoming period working with club staff at the Lotus Training Centre.

Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke labelled the 0-0 draw at Burnley as an important first step as the Canaries look to climb the Premier League table.

It is the first point Norwich have gained this season after a tough run of fixtures saw the team lose the opening six games of the campaign. Farke admitted that had dented confidence but he was delighted with the resilience and steel his players showed against Burnley to come away from a physical game at Turf Moor with a clean sheet and a point.

“It was quite an intense game and quite a physical game and that is what we expected,” he said. “It was not easy for us to play this game today, because we had lost the first six games and the confidence level of my young squad was not that high.

“To make sure that we got off the mark in this game, that we returned to the dressing room with the first point and the first clean sheet, is really good.

"It is just the first step. We don’t have to over interpretate it. There are many, many steps that need to follow and, of course, we are not perfectly happy that we have not managed to win a football game and for that we would have preferred that we would have used one of our good situations in the second half to win this game, but I can’t complain too much and I have to give many compliments to my lads.

"They played today full of intensity, fully committed and with top defending behaviour. We showed some real steel and it is for me even more pleasing to be here in a difficult away game, because everybody speaks about Turf Moor being the most physical and intense game, with the first point and the first clean sheet.”

Farke had highlighted before the game the need to not give away set pieces cheaply against Burnley with the likes of Chris Wood and Jay Rodriguez very good in the air and able to profit from balls into the box.

However, Norwich dealt with the set-pieces they conded well, with nine corners from Burnley producing very little.

“You can’t avoid all the set-pieces and when they (Burnley) want to play the long balls,” said Farke. “You have to accept that challenge and stand up to it and to show resilience to defend the second phase and the third phase.

“I am quite pleased that we didn’t lose our nerve and we showed some steel in these moments and, in general, our defending was great.

“I think we had a really good start to the game but then there were 15 to 20 minutes in the first half where we could have been a bit braver with the ball in order to create a bit more. And then they (Burnley) put lots of pressure on us.

"Second half, I think we created much more out of our possession and had good situations where we were pretty close also to win this game. So for that, I would have preferred us to use one of these situations, and then we would be in a much better mood this evening and also in a much better situation in the table but, again, to travel away and to be here with a clean sheet is valuable and we can’t complain too much.”