Norwich City: Lee Dunn on Callum Doyle recruitment

The 21-year-old has established himself as a key figure already under Johannes Hoff Thorup at Carrow Road.

Now the club’s long-serving head of recruitment, Lee Dunn, has revealed the lengths City went to in order to snare Doyle in the summer.

“I was in contact with his representatives, probably as early as February, and Manchester City in March. And that was kind of on-going until the conclusion of last season,” he said. “Then when it was clear we needed to recruit this profile for our game model that was a pretty intense period of meeting the player, presenting to Manchester City as well, because ultimately, he's Manchester City's player.

"We needed to present our plan to them in terms of how he would fit, how we would help improve him, how Johannes was going to play.

“And then similarly, with Callum, you get the opportunity to meet the player in the right moment. Callum visited the training centre, and we presented to Callum. Obviously, the most important person for him to see is Johannes. And then from that moment it's just trying to get the deal done.

“Unfortunately, their US tour, in this case, slowed things down. But after that moment of meeting Callum, and Johannes speaking, I think there was a full commitment between both parties this was the place for him. But that's on-going with many players and many agents throughout the year.”

Doyle, Ben Chrisene and Jose Cordoba were all left-sided defensive signings following the close-season departures of Ben Gibson, Sam McCallum and Dimi Giannoulis.

“We knew that there'd be gaps, left side of defence for us in the summer, and our strategy really was to recruit three players to cover that, but with one of those players being able to cover both positions,” said Dunn. “It become really apparent, really quickly, that Callum was a standout option.

"From a game model perspective he ticked a lot of boxes for us. Callum was a player we followed for probably four or five years. You don't need a degree to work out he's a good footballer. But as with any transfer, sometimes it's about timing as well.

“It might have been the case the previous summer Callum might not have been a player we looked to recruit. Everything needs to align.

"The type of profile needs to be one you are looking to bring in. His availability needs to be there and then, of course, the fit with the game model. It's a no brainer. The other thing is then trying to get that over the line, and that's not so easy.

“We always go through those three stages of the process - the identification, assessment and recruitment. Quite often we will scout players today, but we may not sign for three or four years, or we may not sign ever.

"The key bit comes to when we define what we need, so you look at the summer just gone, we needed this left back, and we needed this type of profile. Our scouting work should underpin that, and hopefully we can produce profiles that fit.

“It's then a case of basically filtering the market and understanding the ability of the player first and foremost. So is that a player good enough for what we want to do, both currently and maybe in the mid to long term? It's okay liking a player, but is he available? And then, obviously, is he affordable? So all these things have to align.”

Watch or listen to our full chat with City head of recruitment, Lee Dunn, covering his background, time at Norwich, the club's recruitment approach and set up, which markets City are looking in, and an assessment of the most recent summer transfer window.