"£45-50m" - Norwich City fan favourite drops Borja Sainz, transfer prediction | OneFootball

Iwan Roberts has urged Norwich City to avoid selling Borja Sainz in the January window

Former Norwich City striker Iwan Roberts has predicted that in-demand Canaries star Borja Sainz could be worth "£45-50 million" if he stays until the summer and maintains his sparkling form.

The Spanish winger has been in red-hot form for Norwich across the current campaign, establishing himself as arguably the division's best player. At the moment in time, no player in the Championship has recorded more goals than Sainz's 11, while he has also added another two assists from 15 appearances.

Norwich have endured inconsistency this term and are winless in their last six, having lost each of their last three matches against Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City before this month's international break.

Amid a significant injury crisis, which has forced Johannes Hoff Thorup into getting by without the likes of Josh Sargent, Angus Gunn and Marcelino Nunez to call upon, Norwich's early-season promotion ambitions have just fizzled away somewhat and they currently find themselves in 14th position, just three points above 22nd-placed Cardiff.

The Canaries will fancy their chances of rediscovering their promising initial form once their key players return to full fitness, of course, but they're inevitably more susceptible to losing Sainz in January if they're lower down in the table.

Norwich City's Borja Sainz already has suitors ahead of the January transfer window

Unsurprisingly, Sainz's sensational form hasn't gone unnoticed and already, he's seemingly earned himself a host of suitors ahead of the January window.

According to reports, Galatasaray are among the interested parties. Of course, the Turkish giants completed a deal for Norwich's former midfield star, Gabriel Sara, in the summer, and they may have good reason to believe they can lure a prized asset away from Norfolk once again following the turn of the year.

Meanwhile, the Spaniard is also believed to have interest back in his homeland. As per Radio Popular de Bilbao, Atlético Madrid, Athletic Club and Villarreal are all interested in a move for Sainz, who is said to prefer a switch to the Spanish capital.

That too is not a surprise in light of the rich history of Diego Simeone's side, and given the calibre of the clubs keeping tabs on Sainz, retaining him in January will be no mean feat.

Iwan Roberts urges Norwich City to retain Borja Sainz in January

Amid Sainz's growing list of suitors, Roberts, the former Canaries frontman, has encouraged his old side to keep hold of their star player at all costs. The Welshman, who scored 84 times for Norwich between 1997 and 2004, believes that Sainz is already potentially worth £30 million, and his value could rise north of £45 million come the end of the campaign.

Roberts wrote in his column for The Pink Un: "So if he stays fit - what happens in January? The club have said they have no intention of selling him.

"But that won’t stop him being a few teams’ radars. You can't score the amount of goals that he is from a wide position, you can’t score the type of goals he is scoring and you can’t put in the type of performances he is, and keep it quiet.

"I’d love to see the list of scouts and recruitment people on the list for a game at Carrow Road.

"While the club have made their stance clear, there's a difference in saying that and someone throwing them a tempting bid in. If I am at a club in the lower half of the Premier League who have struggled to score goals - and there's a few of them there - I’d be looking at him.

"The one thing I will say is that he is yet to do it at Premier League level - he’s never had the chance to. God forbid he would leave in January but if he did - then you’re throwing the towel in really. You’ve accepted mid-table mediocrity, maybe a top-half finish.

"If you lose him, you might get money to invest, but you're not going to get another Borja Sainz, especially in January. We may be talking a value of £30m now, which I don’t think is out of the question - but say in the next 31 games he gets, what, 13 or 14 goals – 25 goals from the left wing. In that case you’d be talking £45m or £50m.

"And if you're one of his teammates and he goes in January, what is the effect? I’d be gutted. If you are Josh Sargent and you see Sainz leaving, you are seeing your own ambitions going out of the window.

"If it's me and you're chopping my right arm off, someone taking a bit of the load off me scoring goals which would take the pressure off me performing week in, week out, which I think would make Josh Sargent play better and score more goals - if you're taking him away, I'm thinking, ‘where's my contract?’.

"It would show a lack of ambition - I am talking hypothetically and I hope that he's here for at least the whole of this season, but if Josh Sargent wants to progress as a player he's going to have a better chance of doing it with Sainz in the team.