Johannes Hoff Thorup won't be tempted to veer from Norwich City's long-term strategy in the frantic January transfer market.

Soon-to-be majority shareholder Mark Attanasio confirmed at the club's AGM last week that funds would be available this winter to sporting director Ben Knapper, who he said had already presented potential targets to him.

But head coach Thorup, who has also been part of those conversations, says the Canaries won't do anything rash with that budget.


"It's ongoing for us," he told the Pink Un. "The important thing is that we stick to the strategy. Especially when there is a little bit of a storm, and I don't think even this was a storm, I think it was just a little bit of wind, it's even more important to stick to the strategy.

"We won't take any short-term decisions. What we can expect when we step into the transfer window in January is that if we have to do any transfers in, they're going to be transfers that relate to the strategy. They'll make sense for us on a long-term basis.

"We are about to change something here, and it will take time. Fortunately we've seen already what we can do when we are at our best, but obviously we've also seen what the scenario can be when we're not at our best.

"So we have to continue with the strategy, we have to continue bringing in players who are suitable for that strategy and also the way of playing. Is that going to be a lot of players in January? I don't think so."

Knapper was open about his desire to lower the age profile of the squad from the start of his tenure last year, and didn't sign anyone over the age of 23 in the summer.

Thorup expects that theme to continue in January, with his goal to compete for Premier League promotion in the next two seasons.

"I think it will [be young players]," he continued. "When we're at our best we can compete with the best teams in the league, but we can also see what the difference is, and what we need to be able to get up there.

"The only way for us to be able to get up there is to continue what we've started here. That is to bring in young and fresh players with big potential, a great future ahead of them, suited for the way that we want to play.

"We'll change things a little bit from window to window to window so that when we step into the second or third season we can compete with the style of play, the strategy and what we've been doing for the previous years."