Norwich City’s summer so far has been dominated by new signings. Now, the prospect of departures is the main focus.

I expected Josh Sargent’s appearance against Cardiff on the final day of last season to be the last time he would wear the yellow shirt at Carrow Road. At time of writing, he is still at the club and set to start on Saturday against Millwall.

When it was reported a couple of weeks ago that Sargent had turned down the opportunity of joining Wolfsburg I suspected this was due to his agent knowing that another option was about to emerge. The fact that hasn’t materialised does offer some hope that Sargent is not desperate to move and is only going to do so if the perfect fit comes along.

I’m still not ready to believe that he will stay, though. I remember a friend being convinced that Leroy Fer was going to ‘stay and rip up the Championship’ after a 20-minute cameo in our 2014-15 home-opener against Watford. He was holding a QPR shirt a few days later.

Whilst the Sargent rumours have gone quiet, news of a potential departure for Marcelino Núñez has reappeared today.

Turkish side Trabzonspor are once again being linked with the midfielder after reportedly having a couple of bids turned down for him last summer. Although Núñez is not going to command a Borja Sainz/Josh Sargent type fee – let alone a Darwin Núñez Saudi fee – a sale is a possibility given that he is only under contract for one more year.

The response to the rumours has presented quite differing views of the regard that he’s held in among Norwich fans.

I read a number of comments on Twitter/X labelling him as a “great” player and showing concern at potentially losing him, whilst others were more ambivalent.

I tend to side with the latter camp. Núñez is a good player and I’d prefer him to stay; however, he’s never had a sustained period of strong performances that would make him difficult to replace.

Such inconsistency partly can be explained by his three seasons in the Championship having come under three different permanent managers. The alternative view is that he has never really kicked on – in the way that Gabriel Sara and Borja Sainz did – despite being given plenty of opportunities by different coaches.

The key is where he sits in the plans of his fourth permanent Head Coach, Liam Manning.

Núñez has never convinced me in his appearances further up the pitch as a Number 10. Whilst he has the technical ability for the role, he never demonstrated the ideal character for it: demanding the ball and wanting to be the player running the show (like a Buendia, Maddison or Hoolahan of recent years).

He’s more suited to the deeper-lying role that predominantly is where Dean Smith, David Wagner and Johannes Hoff Thorup deployed him; however, excelling in that position often comes with being paired with the right player. It partly works with Kenny McLean, yet I don’t think he’s the ideal fit with Jacob Wright and that may make Núñez expendable given his contract status.

This depends on the Manning Masterplan and how he wants to set the team up. I doubt the potential transfer fee would be high enough to force our hand; maybe in the same £3M region that we paid for him.

The question is whether Núñez has a key role under Manning, and therefore worth trying to sign him to a contract extension, or if now is the right time to part ways?