Alex Neil believes Norwich City have pulled off a coup by landing Patrick Bamford on loan from Chelsea.
The 22-year-old has moved to Carrow Road on loan from the Blues until the end of the season on the back of an unsuccessful first half of the campaign at Crystal Palace.
Bamford made just nine appearances at Palace and did not start a single Premier League game for the club before his loan move to south London was cut short.
Having impressed Neil when coming up against his side while on loan at Middlesbrough last year, the Norwich boss is delighted to have him in his ranks.
“Obviously he did extremely well last season and won Championship Player of the Year,” he said of Bamford.
“If we had tried to recruit him in the summer you would have been talking double figures, £10million plus.
“The fact we can get that calibre player in on a loan deal between now and the end of the season will hopefully increase our fire-power and give us a bit more competition.”
While obviously appreciating Bamford’s talent, Neil has said it will be up to the England Under-21 international to force his way into the side at Carrow Road and prove he can cut it in the top-flight.
“It really depends on him,” Neil replied when asked how involved Bamford will be.
“He will come in and compete with (Dieumerci) Mbokani and Cameron Jerome and then it will be up to him to show his qualities and hopefully stake his claim for a place in the team. It can only help us that we have more competition.”
With Bamford potentially making his Norwich debut in Tuesday night’s Premier League clash with Tottenham, fellow new recruit Timm Klose will also be pushing to make his bow.
The defender was an unused substitute in the recent 5-4 defeat to Liverpool and Neil believes the Switzerland international is now ready to play after his move from Wolfsburg.
“He is in a much better position now,” he said.
“You have got to bear in mind he hadn’t played for a few weeks due to the mid-season break in Germany. We needed to get him up to speed and he is in a much better position now.
“I like to think people come into training and see it (the addition of players) as a challenge – the existing players will need to up their game and hopefully it inspires everyone.”
After a comparatively busy transfer window, Norwich added a further fresh face on Monday’s transfer deadline day, bringing in 20-year-old Ebou Adams from Dartford.
The midfielder has signed an 18-month deal at Norwich and admitted he is delighted to have joined a Premier League club.
“This is a dream come true for me, and I’ve worked hard to get here,” he told Canaries Player.
“I’d describe myself as a box-to-box midfielder because I like to get about the pitch. My game is about working hard, and that’s what I need to do now to push on again.”
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