Norwich City Opinion: Canaries should look at Rocky Bushiri as one for the future
According to reports from The Eastern Daily Press, Norwich City have completed the signing of Belgium U-21 centre-back Rocky Bushiri from Belgian club K.V Oostende, with reports claiming that the 19-year-old has signed a four-year deal at Carrow Road.
Eastern Daily Press understands that Bushiri has initially joined up with the Canaries U-23 development squad upon his arrival at the club but he is likely to be assessed by manager Daniel Farke in the coming days.
The 19-year-old becomes the second Belgian youth international to join Norwich City this week following the arrival of 17-year-old left-back Rob Nizet from Anderlecht.
The Canaries have adopted a completely different approach in the transfer market as compared to fellow newcomers Aston Villa, with the club showing more inclination to invest in talented youngsters in order to build a solid platform for the future.
Norwich are yet to make a marquee signing this summer, with only Josip Drmic joining as a free-agent from Borussia Monchengladbach and Patrick Roberts arriving on loan from Man City.
The Canaries snapped up 17-year-old Daniel Adshead from Rochdale earlier in the summer, however, that is unlikely to have any sort of impact on their upcoming Premier League campaign.
Norwich are unlikely to spend big this summer due to their financial constraints, despite securing promotion to the Premier Leauge. Hence, it is pretty clear that they aren’t going to follow the footsteps of Aston Villa and try to make the headlines with some big-money statement signings.
Instead, they have adopted a more calculated and measured approach in the market, as evident from the acquisition of Rocky Bushiri and Rob Nizet this week.
It is true that such a stance won’t pay any immediate dividends in the Premier League next season, given that Bushiri is unlikely to get a crack of the whip in the top-flight, but this kind of policy might as well work wonders for them in the longer run.
Norwich have always emphasized on creating their own identity since the appointment of Farke and they seemingly understand that they would eventually need to polish a few gems of their own if they are to preserve their Premier League status for the years to follow.
Bushiri is still very much an unknown entity in Europe but he is a player with a lot of talent and potential and the Canaries could have a star in their ranks should he go on to fulfil his promise at Carrow Road.
Born in Belgium to parents of Congolese descent, Rocky Bushiri was picked up as a kid by K.V Oostende back in 2012 after impressing in a provincial tournament representing Walloon Brabant.
He made rapid progress through the youth ranks and signed his first professional contract in 2017 before making his debut as a teenager in the Belgian First Division in the same year in December.
Having made 8 appearances in his debut season at Oostende, Bushiri was loaned out to fellow top-flight club KAS Eupen at the start of the 2018-19 season.
The 19-year-old featured regularly on his loan stint and made a total of 33 appearances in all competitions, earning rave reviews for his performances over the course of the campaign.
To Read More Norwich City News, Click Here:- Latest Norwich City News
Bushiri currently has 5 caps for Belgium at the U-21 level and was a part of the squad that participated at the U-21 European Championship in Italy and San Marino last month. He is yet to earn his senior professional debut but that won’t be far away if he continues his development down the right path.
To sum it up, Norwich have every reason to look at Rocky Bushiri as one for the future, while he would also be expected to increase much-needed competition for places in the club’s U-23 side.