Norwich City sporting director Ben Knapper has insisted selling midfielder Marcelino Nunez to the Blues in the summer was the right decision.

The Chilean international became the first senior player to move across the Norfolk-Suffolk border in 24 years when he joined Town for an initial £7.5 million rising to £10 million in August, prompting a huge negative reaction from Canaries’ supporters.

Last month, Norwich owner Mark Attanasio admitted the deal was an “own goal” for the Championship’s second-bottom side, but Knapper, who was appointed to his role in October 2023, is sticking to his guns.

“I knew at the time it was a difficult call,” he told TalkNorwichCity/. “It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, I knew it would be difficult for a lot of people to understand.

“The thinking was that he was a player we wanted to keep at the club - we made multiple advances to re-sign him. He made it clear he didn’t want to be there and he also made it clear that he wanted to join our biggest rivals.

“At the point that a player is saying that to me, I believe his position in our group is somewhat untenable. I don’t want people in our environment who don’t want to be in our environment or, moreover, want to be in the environment of our biggest rivals.”

Asked why the 25-year-old saw Town, among the pre-season favourites to win promotion back to the Premier League, as a more attractive prospect, Knapper flat-batted.

“I can't answer that, that’s a question you need to ask Marcelino,” he continued. “All I can talk about is how it is from my perspective and with the context I described and an offer that was multiples of his current market value.

“And let’s not forget that this is a player that has played just over 50 per cent of the minutes for us over three years.

“I think he made 22 goal contributions over those three years. Ante [Crnac] had more than half of that in his first season.

“There’s some perspective there as well and the other piece that’s in my mind is how the situation would play out if we didn’t do that and we had a player who doesn't want to be here, who wants to be with our biggest rivals.

“We’re probably not going to get the best version of that player for that season and then he goes and joins them for free anyway.

“In my mind, with all that information on the table, I still do think it was the right decision, even though I know it will be difficult for people to understand - at the time and now.”

On Tuesday, Blues CEO and chairman Mark Ashton said he wouldn’t have sold to Norwich had the boot been on the other foot.

“That’s his view, or their view,” Knapper added. “No problem. I respect everyone has a different perspective and mine was that.”

Photo: IMAGO/PPAUK via Reuters Connect

Steve_M added 13:38 - Nov 20 "Asked why the 25-year-old saw Town, among the pre-season favourites to win promotion back to the Premier League, as a more attractive prospect, Knapper flat-batted." Ha, ha.
4

Saxonblue74 added 13:41 - Nov 20 And that is why his days at Carrot Rd are numbered.
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StowTractor added 13:57 - Nov 20 Saxonblue I hope not. Arguably Knapper is doing an even better job than Agent Manning was. Also is fun to keep reminding my Norwich colleagues how they kept saying all their problems would be solved if Delia sold up to a rich yark & S Webber was replaced!!
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StowTractor added 13:57 - Nov 20 or even a rich yank
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miltsnephew added 14:13 - Nov 20 Selling Nunez to Town the Right Decision- Yeah you keep telling yourself that, the buck stops with you and if you say it was a error now the trust will be gone and questions asked. Of course it's the right decision anyway, the lad wants to play for a better team and have a chance at promotion!!
3

Barty added 14:19 - Nov 20 An anagram of his surname is KRAPPEN which i think is the language he spouts.
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d77sgw added 14:39 - Nov 20 Taking off my blue-tinted specs for a second, and looking at this impartially, his points do make sense. Getting £7.5-£10m for an asset which will depreciate to nothing in 9 months, and likely not perform properly over that period just makes sense. As others said at the time - a good deal for them, and a good deal for us.
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Wacko added 14:52 - Nov 20 He's right but also it's his fault that they're not challenging for promotion and that their best players want to leave..
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Jugsy added 15:15 - Nov 20 Honestly feel that fans get too carried away with the rivalry on the Nunez sale. I remember when Gibbs moved over, it annoyed me that he shipped to them and we didn't do enough to convince him of his future with us - but that was it. I think our fans had the right measure of being annoyed, smattered with extra level of anger due to it being Norwich, but didn't go over the top (appreciating that it's relative to Gibbs not being a first team player). I think the Norfolk lot have blown the Nunez situation out of proportion, which makes it all the more amusing. Football is more business nowadays and players are frequently looked at as assets, alright Knapper seems like he hasn't got a clue about most things but I think the Norwich fans have made this way worse than it needs to be - which is all the better for us. Knapper and the Norwich City pod harp on that they've done great transfer business, the only good business they did was keeping Sargent and he'll go in January as he wants to be at the World Cup. Also, they whinged that Nunez was inconsistent and always injured, surely they should be chuffed for selling us a dud if that's how they really felt?! I'm really enjoying the fallout over there :D

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Bazza8564 added 15:18 - Nov 20 They needed he money, Nunez wanted to be here. And therein folks lies the bigger picture. Naaawich are heading steadily down the tubes, and their best players see what our trajectory is and would rather go to their biggest rivals than stay. And long may ot continue :)
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