Norwich City are ramping up their January transfer window plans - with David Wagner set for further conversations with sporting director Ben Knapper this week.
After an underwhelming opening 19 Championship matches with Norwich sitting in 13th and Knapper's arrival, he has made a judgment that City's current squad holds an average age that is currently too high.
That assessment comes after a summer window led by Wagner and ex-football chief Stuart Webber that concluded with Norwich possessing 11 players who were 30 or over - seven of those are contracted to the club beyond the end of the season.
January represents the first chance for Norwich to make changes to their squad as Knapper continues his audit of all matters on the sporting side, including Wagner's future. They will be presented to the board in due course.
Mark Attanasio, during a pre-annual general meeting visit, met with both Knapper and Wagner and seemed to indicate during that audience with shareholders that there would be financial support in next month's transfer window if necessary.
Wagner confirmed on Friday that initial conversations with Knapper and technical director Neil Adams had already been held, with more scheduled this week.
"I met Mark (Attanasio) and his representatives (when they were over for the AGM). I have spoken with Ben briefly about ideas for the transfer window in general last week or the week before. It was quite early when he started.
"We will make some further meetings about this as well to make sure that we are as best prepared as is possible," Wagner told the Pink Un.
"Everyone knows the January window is not the easiest one, everyone says this and everyone knows this - but it doesn't mean that we don't want to be creative and, hopefully, we can do some good things.
"There are still four weeks to go and a lot of games that will require our focus."
Wagner is aligned with Knapper's view that City need to reduce the average age of their squad - with January serving as the first opportunity to kickstart that process.
"You have to be flexible in your squad," he said. "That is what we want to be and will be. We want to reduce the age profile of the squad, but you need to have the possibility to do that.
"That means that contracts have to run down or you have to find solutions like offers for them. This is the idea we have for the future. This is correct."
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