Former Blues midfielder Liam Gibbs’s move to Norwich City has been confirmed, the clubs having agreed undisclosed compensation for the 18-year-old.

TWTD reported last week that Gibbs, who joined Town aged eight, was set to join the Canaries subject to the clubs coming to an accord regarding compensation for his years in the academy, which is understood to be somewhere in the mid-hundred thousands.

The Bury St Edmunds-born youngster, who will initially be part of the Norfolk club’s development squad, has signed a deal which runs to the summer of 2025.

"I am very, very excited. I am looking forward to starting my journey as soon as possible,” Gibbs told the official Norwich site.

"It is a new step for me and for my career. I am looking to make the most of it, showcase my talent and hopefully I can help the club keep moving forward.

"I have seen young players in the past that have gone through the academy and into the first team.

“Norwich have a reputation for bringing through young players and I just want to be the next one to get into the first team and make things happen.

“I can see a clear pathway for me. Now I am just excited to get started, fulfil my potential and show everyone what I can do.”

Reflecting on crossing the Suffolk/Norfolk divide, he added: “I have got to do what’s best for my career at the end of the day and I felt like this was the club that I needed to come to.

“It is not ideal being the rival club, but I am happy with my decision, and I am sure it will be beneficial for me and my career.

“I just wanted to get started now. I have been here waiting for it to happen and now I am ready to go in, get started, meet the team and play some football.”

As reported earlier this month, last-gasp talks between Town and Gibbs broke down on June 30th, the final day of his existing Blues deal, the club having offered a new contract late last year.

TWTD revealed in January that Gibbs was yet to sign the new terms offered by Town with his contract up this summer and no one-year option included in his previous deal.

While the midfielder, who made his League One debut in the home game against Charlton last season, was keen to stay at Portman Road, he was unwilling to commit to the deal as it stood, although we understand the two parties weren’t too far apart.

Norwich had long been keeping an eye on the youngster’s situation and were the long-time frontrunners for his signature, while Leeds, Brighton, Rangers and Southampton were among the other clubs to have previously shown interest.

As the end of his contract drew closer, the club made no new overtures as other interested sides monitored the situation prior to the deadline-day talks.

In addition to his one League One appearance for the Blues, Gibbs, who was one of the stars of Town’s U18s’ FA Youth Cup run last season, also made two EFL Trophy starts and one sub appearance.

Photo: Matchday Images

BlueBlood90 added 09:59 - Jul 23 I'd like to wish him all the best but I'd be lying.
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Nesspointrunner added 10:05 - Jul 23 All this lot seem to do is be selling the family silver. When will it stop ? When we have run out of players and are in Div 2 ?
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Linkboy13 added 10:05 - Jul 23 Yes spot on Essexnbluue we don't produce youngsters like we you'st to do who could come straight into the first team and not look out of place. At 18 and in league 1 Gibbs should be playing first team football but as Klug stated he's not physically ready yet even too go out on loan and the facts back this up. Hope the boy does well though but no great loss.
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martin587 added 10:16 - Jul 23 At this present time we need experienced players to get us out of this league ASAP.I'm sure Paul thinks he has talent but is not yet ready for a very tuff battle this coming season.Good luck to the lad but I feel he will only be a beach warmer for them.
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Westcountryblue added 10:22 - Jul 23 Fair enough. If you believe you need to leave to further your career and development so be it. A word of thanks to the academy coaches who have put hours into your development since the age of 8 would have been a nice touch though...stay classy Liam.
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timothyeo added 10:22 - Jul 23 ChrisMakin - what absolute pretentious rubbish. He's gone somewhere with much better facilities and recent evidence of turning youngsters into Premier League footballers. The fact our club couldn't be bothered or show a decent effort in keeping him was probably more the reason than money.
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oldelsworthyfan added 10:25 - Jul 23 Putting this into perspective, it's nothing to get worked up about.
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itsonlyme added 10:27 - Jul 23 No sad loss at all. I'll bet now no one still won't have heard of him in five years time.
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Chrisd added 10:30 - Jul 23 No hard feelings, good luck to him, he feels he is making the right decision for the sake of his career and you can't knock him for that. We might not like it especially where he has ended up, however when Gibbs talks about his reasons for signing for the Canaries it sounds like he was describing us back in the day which makes for disappointing reading.
2

hoppy added 10:37 - Jul 23 Might be playing against us next season, if he gets in their team for our two league matches, that is!
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tractorkent added 10:37 - Jul 23 I think in right,there has been a few boys who have moved onto bigger clubs rather than sign for Town and have just been swallowed up.Learn your trade with us ,then if your good enough 19 or 20 and ipswich are still not in a good enough position,then move on
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HARRY10 added 10:45 - Jul 23 Maybe if we spent more on coaching and less on murals we might see some progress out of our academy. They have made over £100m out of youngsters they have developed in the past few years. We have been doing something wrong for quite a while if the poor return on our academy is any measure. This lad was tapped up, the club knew it, so what would be the point of any 'better offer' ? Evans never had any intention of funding Cat 1. The scumbag wouldn't even pay for basic cleaning and maintenance of the stadium. This is the consequence.

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ldnj added 10:47 - Jul 23 The most telling sentence for me was: “I can see a clear pathway for me." My guess (as that's all it can be) is the manager couldn't give him an indication he would be thought of for the first team squad. He, quite rightly, therefore seems to have looked at his career path and sees more options and opportunity as he is just setting out. Good luck to him. It would hurt in Norwich benefited but there might be some scraps of money in the future.

2

bigpaulyd1 added 11:00 - Jul 23 I'm losing no sleep over this Let's not bother talk about potential as for years we've been saying about everything youngster put on the platform as a home grown hero and look where there are and us as a club
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blues1 added 11:00 - Jul 23 Essexnblue. What a load of rubbish. We have invested for academy1. U seem to forget that we missed out on cat 1 by .25 of a point when the academy was assessed. So hardly down to a lack of investment. Just a ridiculous decision to not award us the status. And at the end of the day it's nothing to do with the status, what quality the players you produce. The only real difference is where you can draw the youngsters from, as with cat2 yr limited to the region you can bring in those youngsters. And ur suggesting that the likes of Bryan Klug us an average coach? Really?

1

dugoutdave added 11:04 - Jul 23 Be more worried if we lost Elkan Baggot
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leftie1972 added 11:04 - Jul 23 Kundai Benyu, now playing for Vestri, in Iceland.
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IpswichToon added 11:05 - Jul 23 As far as I'm concerned, club rivalry is (or at least should be) just harmless banter. It's a great move for him. He's jumped two divisions, stayed local, and Norwich have had some great success recently with youth players becoming first team regulars. I don't think a single fan of Ipswich could really say they would have done anything differently given the same opportunity. Good luck to him.

4

runningout added 11:12 - Jul 23 Good luck I say
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bluesteel added 11:31 - Jul 23 I wouldn't want to put my career in the hands of paul cook a man so inflexible he's prepared to start the season with only a dozen first team players in his squad
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EricsGate added 11:36 - Jul 23 2026..... Who's Liam Gibbs?? oh yes he plays for MK Dons You have chose your bed kid now go Lie in it!!
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clint_eastwood added 11:36 - Jul 23 Judas!! Judas!! Judas!!
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arc added 11:41 - Jul 23 Always sad to see a youngster go, and it's always sad when one of ours joins Them. But the real sadness here is what it demonstrates about our true status. We can develop youngsters all we want, but if all we can offer the best ones is bad League One football, they're going to leave. If "mid-hundred thousands" means about £500,000, then I think it's a pretty good deal, all things considered. That's a decent sum to pay for potential. Good luck, Liam. And we move on.

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ringwoodblue added 12:00 - Jul 23 One day in the not too distant future when we are back where we belong in the Premier League, we will probably be signing promising young talent from other lower league clubs as Norwich are doing now so what comes around, goes around.
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Zuthernblue added 12:11 - Jul 23 Understand why he's gone, don't like who he's gone to or anything else about that club. Moving up the pyramid is the long term answer and that journey looks like it's just starting.
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