Hooper off to Norwich - 'Arry won't be 'appy

Brophs

The One and Only
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Norwich have agreed a fee with Celtic for Gary Hooper and the striker will have a medical on Thursday, Sky sources understand.
Hooper looked set for a move to Championship side QPR, with the Hoops understood to have agreed a fee in the region of £5m for the 25-year-old on Wednesday.
But Norwich have been in the hunt for Hooper for some time, with manager Chris Hughton seeing several bids rejected in the January transfer window, while Hull City also missed out with their approach in June.
Hughton may yet get his man and former Southend and Scunthorpe forward Hooper could be playing in the Premier League come the start of the new season.
The news will come as a blow to QPR boss Harry Redknapp, who admitted earlier he expected their swoop to go through without a hitch.
Redknapp had said: "It looks like it's on its way to being done. Negotiations have gone well.
"He's a finisher. He'll score goals in the Championship; I'm absolutely certain of that.
"He's gone to Celtic; one of the biggest clubs in the world and he's scored goals. He's scored goals in the Champions League.
"He's in the last year of his contract, so it's a good deal for everybody. It's good for Celtic to get the kind of money they are getting and hopefully it will be a great deal for QPR.
"If he can come here and get 25 goals next season, then we will have a real chance of getting out of the division."
Hooper arrived at Celtic Park from Scunthorpe for a fee of around £2.4m in July 2010 and has scored 82 goals in 138 appearances.
Nottingham Forest were also in contact over a possible transfer though Hoops manager Neil Lennon had not given up hope of keeping his prolific marksman.
Hooper has been the club's leading marksman in all three of his Parkhead seasons but is in the final year of his contract and could leave for free in 12 months' time.
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http://www1.skysports.com/football/...e-with-celtic-for-gary-hooper-after-qpr-links

'Arry will understand. It's all in the game, yo.
 
Holy crap. They swooped in like a salmon there didnt they? Harry won't be pleased.

Decent attack forming at Norwich with VW and Hooper.
 
How many goals a season is this lad capable of ? Is he a worthy option as a backup striker for a fantasy team?
 
Harry must be absolutely fuming - I love it.

Teaches you not to talk about a player until its 100% official.
 
Crackers said:
How many goals a season is this lad capable of ? Is he a worthy option as a backup striker for a fantasy team?
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15-20 if he's starting all the time i'd reckon. He has been scoring 20+ goals a season since 08/09 for both Scunthorpe and Celtic.
 
Norwich have done well in this window, that'll take their spending to nearly £30m I think which is massive for a club like them and they've not received any real money for departing players apart from £3m for Holt.
 
SharkyMcShark said:
Surely he'll be playing backup to v. Wolfswinkel?
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Depends how Hughton wants to play. Pretty sure they were interested in Hooper a long time before they were in Van Wolfswinkel but if he's not playing most games he could still bag around 10 goals.
 
Sarni said:
Norwich have done well in this window, that'll take their spending to nearly £30m I think which is massive for a club like them and they've not received any real money for departing players apart from £3m for Holt.
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Illustrates the kind of cash floating about following the latest TV deal (I'd argue that £17m on Paulinho shows this too). It does however bring into question why some of the other clubs haven't reinvested as heavily too, as the assumption would be that they also have these level of available resources. They'll be at risk of being left behind if they don't. I'm guessing it also has the potential to put even more distance between the quality of the proven Premiership teams and the teams who regularly compete for promotion.
 
Very good player for Celtic and has always been a consistent goal-scorer throughout his career. This is a massive step-up for him and it will be interesting to see how he adapts. He has also scored goals in European competitions so that is a positive. I do like Hooper, he is a good finisher, is quick enough and despite not being the tallest, he is quite strong and can hold-up the ball too.

I would say Houghton will play one up top next season meaning that Van Wolfswinkel will be the main man and Hooper will be playing second-fiddle. In saying that, I can see him getting plenty of game-time and the only other striker there is Becchio.
 
SilentWitness said:
15-20 if he's starting all the time i'd reckon. He has been scoring 20+ goals a season since 08/09 for both Scunthorpe and Celtic.
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Massive step up for him - but fair play for choosing a PL club over a Championship side.

We'll see what he's made of. Has looked decent for Celtic in the CL so he might have what it takes.
 
QPR would have been a pointless move for him, what apart from the money could they offer him? I'm pretty sure they're going to struggle to get back to the Premier League.
 
That's what happens when you piss about trying to save yourself £500,000. The time it took to move from £4m to £5m was mental.

A great buy at that price.
 
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