It’s safe to say that during his term as Norwich City manager, Alex Neil accomplished numerous successful transfers while also leading the Canaries to an immediate return to the Premier League in 2015.

Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond scored goals to help Norfolk overcome Middlesbrough 2-0 in the play-off final that year.

Neil was unable to maintain Norwich in the top level, as the club ended 19th at the end of the 2015/16 Premier League season, five points from safety.

The eventual manager of Preston North End, Sunderland, Stoke City, and Millwall was fired in March 2017, after his team went five games without a win, leaving them nine points behind the Championship play-off places.

Neil, on the other hand, left an indelible stamp on the Norwich transfer market, particularly with players like as James Maddison and Ben Godfrey.

James Maddison and Ben Godfrey helped Norwich City make substantial profits.

James Maddison and Ben Godfrey both excelled for Norwich in the Championship, while the latter was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing 2019/20 Premier League season.

Maddison had a fantastic season in 2017/18, scoring 15 goals and providing 11 assists, earning him a summer move to Premier League club Leicester City.

That was the creative midfielder’s only full season in Norwich, having previously spent time on loan with Coventry City and Aberdeen after joining the club in February 2016. Even so, it was plenty of unforgettable moments, such as the strike against Boro shown here.

Godfrey was another good signing Neil made for the Canaries during the 2016 winter transfer window, and he remained in Norfolk until joining Everton in 2020, with the exception of a 2017/18 loan spell with Shrewsbury.

Godfrey helped the Carrow Road team win the Championship title under Daniel Farke following a brilliant 2018/19 season, scoring four goals and providing two assists as a defender.

According to the Pink Un, Maddison joined Norwich from Coventry for £2.5 million, while Godfrey signed from York City for £150,000.

Both the attacking midfielder and defender became fan favourites at Carrow Road and later represented England after leaving the Canaries.

More impressively for Norwich, according to Sky Sports, Maddison joined Leicester in the summer of 2018 for £22 million, including add-ons.

Similarly, Godfrey transferred to Everton for £20 million, and Neil helped the Canaries benefit handsomely from both eventual England internationals.

Neil did not have the same influence at Carrow Road as his successor Farke, who won two Championship titles with Norwich, but fans will remember the former Hamilton Academical manager’s excellent recruitment work.

James Maddison’s sale permitted a tremendously successful Norwich City transfer window.

Norwich paid a substantial transfer fee for Maddison in June 2018, the same summer that the Canaries recruited Emiliano Buendia and Teemu Pukki.

Buendia proved to be the ideal Maddison replacement, scoring eight goals and assisting 12 times to help the Norfolk club win the Championship in 2019.

The former Getafe player, like the majority of Farke’s Norwich side, struggled to acclimate to the Premier League, but he was an invaluable asset to the club’s 2020/21 second-tier title-winning campaign.

His remarkable aggregate of 15 goals and 16 assists in his final Championship season won him a move to Aston Villa.

Meanwhile, Pukki established himself as one of the best second-tier strikers in contemporary times, and unlike Buendia, he held his own in the Premier League while playing for Norwich.

Finally, the sale of Maddison facilitated the movements for both Pukki and Buendia, and the Canaries will always be grateful to Neil for the profit made from both the eventual Tottenham Hotspur player and Godfrey.