Norwich City interested in Leeds United winger Stuart Dallas

Northern Ireland international winger Stuart Dallas is reportedly a target of Norwich City. Dallas, who was recently named to the squad for the World Cup qualifiers by Northern Ireland, has less than a year left on his deal at Leeds United.

Phil Hay from the Yorkshire Evening News is reporting that Norwich is looking to exploit the reported lack of a contract extension to tempt the winger into a move south, with other first team players such as Ronaldo Vieira, Kalvin Phillips, Eunan O’Kane, and captain Liam Cooper all receiving new contracts this summer.

Stuart Dallas might be looking over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps coming from the fleet-footed Madger Gomes and thinking that his shot at first team football might be eclipsed by either Gomes or Kemar Roofe. Gomes had an impressive match against Newport County in the midweek, and Roofe kept him out of the side against Bolton Wanderers on opening day. Hadi Sacko not only made the bench over Dallas, he actually appeared in the match over Dallas.

However, since Sacko seems to be in the doghouse, with no signs of returning, there will be plenty of opportunities for Dallas to get into the team in the long Championship season. And while it appears that Gomes is coming on strong, he’s still a young player who has only appeared in Cup matches so far this season.

Stuart Dallas still has an important role to play on this club, and while the words “Norwich City interested” may have caused panic before, that’s not necessarily the case today. The new ownership at Leeds isn’t going to just sell a player to cash in, and while I’m sure Dallas would like to get guaranteed first team action, there is no guarantee that he’ll get it at Norwich either. And given the results so far this season and from last season, Dallas has a better chance of getting to the Premier League with Leeds than he does with Norwich.

It made sense for Liam Bridcutt to leave, and with the wads of TV money that teams like Burnley can wave around, it was only time before Chris Wood was tempted to move on. Dallas isn’t necessarily going to get paid more at Norwich and it won’t necessarily improve his chances to stay in the Northern Ireland squad. And while Norwich might be interested, it would be a huge mistake for Leeds to let the experienced player go. If he really wants to leave, let him leave in the January transfer window when the club has a better idea of what Gomes is able to produce and any needs the club has at that time.