Norwich City transfer rumours: Canaries agree £4.3m deal with Sporting Lisbon for left-back Marvin Zeegelaar

Marvin Zeegelaar in action for for Blackpool against Burnley in the Championship in 2013. Picture: Daniel Martino Johnston Press

Reports in Portugal suggest Norwich City have agreed a deal worth around £4.3million with Sporting Lisbon for Dutch left-back Marvin Zeegelaar.

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Lisbon-based national sports newspaper A Bola report that a deal with an initial payment of £3m has been agreed with the Canaries for the 26-year-old Ajax academy product, potentially rising to £4.3m in bonuses.

Other recent reports in Portugal suggested Crystal Palace had also made a bid for Zeegelaar but A Bola is today reporting the player didn’t train with Sporting yesterday as he was at a meeting to agree terms with City.

Norwich are in the market for a left-back following the £4.5m sale of Martin Olsson to Swansea earlier this week, which saw Russell Martin have to play in a left wing-back role in the FA Cup defeat at Southampton last night.

Zeegelaar was only signed from fellow Portuguese top-flight club Rio Ave for just £430,000 a year ago and has since played regularly in the Champions League with Sporting and received a call-up to the Netherlands squad in November.

He is yet to be capped by his country and has missed his club’s last three league games but could find allies at Norwich in Ivo Pinto and Nelson Oliveira.

Pinto was with Rio Ave in 2011/12 – although didn’t play and went out on loan – and Oliveira also spent time on loan at the Vila do Conde-based club from Benfica when he was young.

Zeegelaar left Ajax for Spain in 2012, joining Espanyol but soon left for Turkish club Elazığspor having only played for the B team, where he enjoyed a more successful time and played regularly.

He briefly came to England in late 2013, making two substitute appearances for Blackpool in the Championship, before returning to Turkey and going on to join Rio Ave in the summer of 2014.

The Dutchman speaks fluent English, stands at 6ft 1ins tall and can also play as a winger.

Norwich have also been linked with Bradford City left-back James Meredith since Olsson’s departure.

Watch a video of Zeegelaar in action above.

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