Schalke sporting director Peter Knabel has admitted that loaning Ozan Kabak to Norwich City wasn't a 'dream solution' for the German club.

The Turkish international joined the Canaries on a season-long loan deal with the option to make that permanent for around £13m next summer depending on whether Norwich manage to survive in the top-flight this season.

The 21-year-old defender spent the second half of last season at Liverpool after they endured somewhat of a defensive injury crisis.

Given Schalke's relegation to the Bundesliga 2, they have been forced to both raise funds and free up the wage bill in a quest to balance the books after threats of points deductions.

Kabak, along with teammate Amine Harit, were both sent out on loan in the final few days of the transfer window. The Moroccan international was sent to Marseille on loan around the same time as Norwich were given the green light to sign the highly-rated defender.

City sporting director Stuart Webber admitted Norwich would adopt a more patient strategy to transfers this summer after working through their recruitment lists too quickly last time around in the Premier League.

That decision helped them secure the loans of Kabak, who they secured knowing Schalke needed to sell players, and Mathias Normann, somebody who initially turned down their advances.

Schalke's financial necessity seems to have played to City's advantage in their pursuit of Kabak, and they finally landed their man on the penultimate day of the window.

Kabak could make his City bow against Arsenal this weekend should Daniel Farke elect to thrust him into the starting line-up at the Emirates. The 21-year-old is set to meet up with his new colleagues at Colney later this week.

Knabel has admitted that loan moves for both Harit or Kabak weren't the solution Schalke were hoping to achieve this summer, but a lack of offers for both players saw them forced to sanction loan moves away from the VELTINS-Arena.

"Loans weren't our dream solution, but in the end we are still happy to have both of them off the payroll," Knabel admitted to Bild TV. "The most important thing was to achieve liquidity. We did that.

"We were not overwhelmed with faxes and offers for either of those players."

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