With the regular Championship season over, Norwich City will be looking forward to the forthcoming competition with great anticipation.

Norwich headed into this season with aspirations of making a promotion push, but they had a disastrous start, and head coach Liam Manning was fired in November with the team in the relegation zone.

Former Rangers manager Philippe Clement was selected Manning’s replacement, and he made an immediate effect at Carrow Road, leading his side out of trouble and up the Championship table, with the play-offs appearing like a distant possibility at one point.

The Canaries finished the season in ninth position, but they were only seven points behind sixth-placed Hull City, who defeated them 2-1 at the MKM Stadium on the final day of the season to secure their spot in the top six.

As Norwich prepares for their fifth season in the second tier, here’s the most recent news about the Norfolk club.

Norwich City faces new competition for Plymouth Argyle attacker Lorent Tolaj.

Norwich may already have two talented strikers on their books in Jovon Makama and Mohamed Toure, and Mathias Kvistgaarden demonstrated some promise during his rookie season at the club, but it appears Clement is still looking to strengthen his forward line.

Last month, it was reported that the Canaries are interested in Plymouth Argyle striker Lorent Tolaj, who has 21 goals and eight assists in 35 games for the Pilgrims this season after joining from Port Vale for £1.2 million in the summer.

According to the same article, Belgian side Anderlecht and Danish club Copenhagen, as well as Norwich’s Championship rivals Stoke City and Swansea City, are keeping an eye on Tolaj, and his list of admirers appears to be growing as the summer transfer window approaches.

Tolaj is also thought to be on the radar of Derby County and Millwall, and after being connected with Celtic earlier this year, his Old Firm rivals Rangers have become the latest team to show an interest in the 24-year-old, reports TEAMtalk.

While Tolaj is under contract with Argyle until the summer of 2029, it appears like he will leave Home Park this summer after the club failed to qualify for the League One play-offs, but Norwich will face a tough battle to recruit him.

Philippe Clement delivers a stark Norwich City transfer warning as the World Cup looms.

Despite Norwich being one of the Championship’s best sides in the second half of the season, Clement has made no secret of his ambition to strengthen his squad this summer, and the Belgian wants the club to move quickly in the transfer market.

However, with the World Cup commencing on June 11th and lasting over five weeks, Clement warned that it may be tough for the Canaries to complete deals early in the summer, since some of their targets may be involved in the tournament in the United States.”We want to finish our business as soon as possible,” Clement told the Pink Un.”The World Cup is a factor for the market, for sure, because you have players going to the World Cup who don’t want to sign for anybody else,

because they know if they score two, three goals there, their situation will totally change,” according to their agent.You have teams with a lot of players going to the World Cup who will keep other players longer in the building, even if they don’t want to keep them for the next season,

in order to have a good pre-season, train with enough people, and play friendly games with enough players, which also prevents them from being brought in earlier. “We shall see.”Not everyone is going to the World Cup. That’s the positive aspect.

Not every team in the world has ten players at the World Cup.We’ll see what we can find. Sometimes it happens quickly, sometimes later. You can never predict this. That is what I have learned during these years.

“Sometimes you want to get someone in as quickly as possible, but you have to wait. Negotiations can take three, four, or five weeks with a specific player or team. “We do not have a crystal ball.”

Norwich City icon criticises Mark Ashton for Ipswich Town’s promotion celebrations.

While Norwich supporters will be thrilled with their team’s recent progress under Clement, Ipswich Town’s automatic promotion to the Premier League will undoubtedly sting many in the yellow half of East Anglia.

The Tractor Boys, who defeated the Canaries for the first time in 33 years this season, confirmed their instant return to the top division with a 3-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, capping up a week of jubilation at Portman Road.

Marcelino Nunez, as predicted, made numerous digs at his former club following Ipswich’s promotion, but chairman Mark Ashton also made waves when he was caught on camera joining in with an obscene chant regarding ex-Norwich majority shareholder Delia Smith.

Ashton’s actions were met with criticism by Canaries fans, including club great Iwan Roberts, who made over 300 appearances at Carrow Road and shared his feelings on social media.I enjoy a good competition and banter, but I believe the Ipswich CEO should have a look at himself. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way,” Roberts commented on X.