The Saga is over... Hughton gets his man!

Does anyone else feel like we have been here before?!

It's over... the painfully long saga that is Norwich City's pursuit of Gary Hooper has finally been resolved. Like a Peter Jackson movie this one seemed like it was never going to end, but alas it has!

Gary Hooper is now officially a Norwich City player! He has completed his move to Norwich for an undisclosed fee, thought to be around £5.5 million, on a 4 year deal... are we happy? Well as I've said before I am not un-happy! I think the reality of the situation is that this has gone on for so long, thanks to Celtic's ridiculous attitude and behavior, that I have become indifferent to the whole situation.

To be honest David McNally has shown why he is such a great businessman with this entire deal! I suspect that we offered around £4.5mill which was rejected by Celtic. We then sat back, knowing that money rich QPR would swoop in and out bid us. Once they had an offer accepted McNally then knew what the club were willing to sell for and we bid that, knowing they couldn't decline and knowing that Hooper would most likely chose us over QPR. He has pulled of a great bit of business here especially after we almost payed £8 million for him in January!

Hooper, 25,  has a good goal to game ratio albeit in the pub league that is the SPL, but most importantly he is almost a tailor made replacement for the big man who left us for Wigan (Grant Holt). The two players are very similar in style and build, although Hooper is by far the better and more clinical finisher.

He is unproven at this level but I am more than confident that he will be a hit at Norwich and will no doubt knock a few goals in along the way. Predictions for him? Well it really depends who else we bring in... Reports are still strong that we intend to bring in Juventus' Fabio Quagliarella although with the arrival of Hooper I'm inclined to believe that this move is now dead. However I would not be surprised is the Matej Vydra deal is now very much on the cards... I'm still very keen for us to go after Alfred Finnbogasson!

Time will tell as to who we chose to bring in... If we don't bring another striker in, which is highly unlikely, one would assume that Hooper will take the number 10 shirt. If we bring in any of the above or another world class striker... who knows?! For now at least we must simply put our faith in Chris Hughton and David McNally, who by all accounts have pulled off one of the best and most exciting transfer windows in recent memory... and by the sounds of things it's not over yet!

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @chrisdeighton

'till next time...

ON THE BALL CITY!