What Liam Manning has said about Harry Darling as Norwich City chase Swansea star.

With Liam Manning appointed as the next Norwich City manager, the club can begin preparation for the upcoming Championship season. Since being demoted from the Premier League in 2022, Norwich City has only come close to ending its current hiatus, finishing sixth in the second division in 2023/24 under David Wagner. Both the German and his successor, Johannes Hoff Thorup, have been fired since then, and the East Anglian club has decided to bring Manning back to his native Norfolk after finishing in the play-offs alongside Bristol City and losing 6-0 on aggregate to Sheffield United in the semi-finals.

Plenty of transfer speculation has already swirled around Carrow Road, primarily in the form of exit talk as strong interest in top marksmen Borja Sainz and Josh Sargent grows, while Tyrhys Dolan has been linked with a move to the club as his contract with Blackburn Rovers expires. Harry Darling is another player with good Championship pedigree who is now out of contract and has been connected with a move to Norwich, as well as impending divisional rivals Birmingham City and Wrexham, as well as being a prior Blades target.

The 25-year-old is someone Manning is familiar with, having worked together at MK Dons. The 39-year-old was appointed in Buckinghamshire just months after the centre-back moved from Cambridge United, and FLW looks back on previous praise he received from the new Canaries manager as the aforementioned links surface.

During the great MK Dons campaign, Harry Darling left a huge impression on Liam Manning.

Manning was named Stadium MK’s head coach in August 2021, after the defender signed seven months earlier under former Norwich cult star Russell Martin. Darling flourished under Manning in his first and only full season with the Dons, gaining considerable of praise alongside Scott Twine, who scored 20 league goals, and Mo Eisa, a centre striker. As he has demonstrated numerous times for Swansea City, the Cambridge-born player consistently impressed with his ball-playing ability and poise, as well as his threat from attacking set-pieces. This resulted in his being the club’s fourth-highest league scorer with seven goals, adding three more in the FA Cup and EFL Trophy to reach double digits over 49 games in all competitions.

Darling would then reunite with the aforementioned Martin in South Wales for a cost apparently in excess of £1 million on a three-year contract, and he surely had Manning’s blessing. “Harry leaves with our best wishes, and I’m confident he’ll continue on his upward trajectory,” he told MK’s official club channels in August 2022. “He had an incredible season with us, and I can’t say enough good things about him as a person and player. As everyone knows, this is what this club is all about, and we shown that we can do it last summer when Twiney replaced Scott Fraser, and again in January.”

Harry Darling reunion would make complete sense for Liam Manning and Norwich City

While Birmingham and Wrexham are likely to invest extensively in their teams and have been touted by many to have excellent seasons immediately following promotion, Darling’s previous success under Manning suggests that Norwich has a good chance of signing him.

His defensive prowess makes it a no-brainer given City’s defensive woes last season, when they conceded 68 goals – the fifth-highest in the division and one fewer than relegated Luton Town. Darling has also continued to demonstrate his offensive flair, scoring 12 goals in 108 Championship matches so far. With Norwich expecting to lose Sainz and Sargent, who tallied 33 of their 71 goals last season, it is crucial that goals come from all angles if the Canaries are to make a sustained play-off challenge during Manning’s first season, which will undoubtedly be the target given his exploits at Ashton Gate.

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