Transfer plans are already in place at Norwich City, regardless of which division Daniel Farke’s team will be playing in.

The Championship leaders have a great chance of promotion, sitting five points clear of third-placed Leeds with eight games to play, but sporting director Stuart Webber has reiterated that a team capable of playing Premier League football has always been his aim.

“In terms of the two plans, we know exactly what we want and exactly who we want and positions, or certainly 90 percent the list is complete and we’re now in the final stages,” the City chief said.

“The hard part is you can’t genuinely look a player in the eye and say ‘we want this’ because we might be looking at one guy for the Championship and then we say that we don’t. So it’s about being honest with the agent and the players concerned – but they know that and that we don’t know what league we’re going to be in yet.

“So that’s not easy but we’ve been planning for the Premier League since the day we joined because this club wants to get to the Premier League.

“So we had a plan for the Premier League last year, we knew we were probably never going to use it, but we had it, ready to build on for this year and build on it again. And likewise, if we are fortunate enough to be in the Premier League next year, we’ll continue a list for the Championship because there’s a chance we might get relegated.”

MORE: Canaries stars recharge their batteries

Webber also stressed promotion would not suddenly mean he would be able to spend big fees. Speaking to fans at a Q&A organised by the Canaries Trust, he stressed that bargains with high potential will remain the focus, using the £1.5m signing of Emi Buendia from Getafe as a prime example.

“We have clear markets that we look at because we genuinely think there’s value there,” he continued. “You look at Buendia when we signed him, we truly believed he could play in the Premier League, and if we are fortunate enough to get to the Premier League it doesn’t mean that we then don’t need to find an Emi, we need to spend £12million on someone we’ve never heard of now, or who’s just been relegated from the Premier League for example.

“No, let’s go and find another Buendia. That has to be our model because our transfer budget wouldn’t be big compared to our rivals in the Premier League.”