Jacob Murphy's Newcastle United career pains Norwich City's sporting director

Murphy joined Newcastle in the summer of 2017 in a £12million deal. However, the winger, a boyhood United fan, has found first-team opportunities hard to come by on Tyneside – and he has had loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and West Bromwich Albion.

The 25-year-old, out of contract at the end of the season, has played 739 minutes of Premier League football this season after impressing Steve Bruce early in the campaign.

And Stuart Webber, Norwich’s sporting director, referenced Murphy's time at Newcastle when asked about the Championship club’s transfer model.

“There is always another hero, and you have to take emotion out of it when you’re running it,” Webber told The Athletic. “Always plan for these departures, because they are inevitable.

"We can’t pay people massive money – we can’t give them the structure of a massive club. We give them the opportunity to develop and work with freedom to try to get to the next level.

“I had this conversation with a couple of the younger boys last summer. If you’re going, you’re going to a club that will be fighting for Europe, because that’s the next stage of our model.

"It’s James Maddison and Ben Godfrey, not – without being rude – what happened to Josh and Jacob Murphy or Alex Pritchard, because that pains me, to be honest.

“We want to produce players who go and play in the Champions League – not ones who end up being subs in the Championship. We don’t have any pride in that."

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