Norwich City frustration outlined after Gabriel Sara exit detail made public | OneFootball

The 25-year-old has moved to Turkey after just two seasons in Norfolk.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Norwich City have sold Gabriel Sara, 25, to Galatasaray, just two seasons after the midfielder moved to Carrow Road.

The Brazilian joined the Turkish giants on Sunday for a fee that is still yet to be determined, with parties in both countries disputing the price for the player.

Galatasaray claimed on their X account that they have paid 18 million Euros for Sara (£15.3 million), whereas BBC Radio Norfolk have said that Norwich will earn £20 million upfront, with added bonuses.

Nevertheless, the Canaries will now need to replace one of their best players from the last two years, with Sara scoring 13 goals and assisting 12 times in 46 Championship games in 2023/24.

With more possible outgoings, there could be worries at Norwich that they will struggle to compete in the new campaign, despite a huge improvement at the back end of last season as the team finished sixth.

Sara fee is low if Galatasaray are to be believed

Norwich have already lost the likes of Ben Gibson, Christos Tzolis and Sam McCallum this summer, with Jonathan Rowe and Adam Idah also looking likely to potentially leave Carrow Road in the coming weeks, and will need to act quickly to replace their top talents.

Sara leaving is terrible for the Canaries, and for new manager Johannes Hoff Thorup, who now has to plan for the new season without the key ingredient to his team.

With his importance to the club so high, the fee that Galatasaray are claiming to have paid does not look too great, an issue that is worrying FLW'sNorwich Fan Pundit, Zeke Downes: "I think the fee for Gabrielle Sara is low, especially if it is the £15,000,000 that's been reported.

"There are add-ons, so if it does rise to £23 million then that's ok-ish."

Norwich have to replace Sara but that is not easy

With Norwich's new campaign starting on Saturday away at Oxford United, they know they will be weaker than last season. But, that can change over the course of the next few weeks.

The transfer window does not shut until August 30, and there are plenty of deals still to be made, with Premier League clubs unlikely to let younger players out on loan until close to that deadline.

But, midfielders of real quality will now cost substantially more than they did at the start of the summer, with teams not willing to lose their very best at such a vital stage of the season.

If Norwich secured more money for the 25-year-old, then perhaps the blow would not be as hard, but it is hard to tell whether the Canaries have made a decent profit on Sara according to Zeke: "I was hoping for a minimum of £20 million without the bonuses and the add-on, so it's a bit lower than a lot of us were thinking, especially because we only bought him for about £10 million, so we've not really made very much money off him.

"He is our best player, and now we've got a massive hole in our team and can't really replace him with very little time left."