Norwich City have completed a move for Coventry City’s highly-rated defender Sam McCallum.
The 19-year-old left back has signed a deal until 2024 and joins the Canaries for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £3.5m, plus add ons.
McCallum becomes the fourth new signing for the Premier League club in the January window, but will return to Mark Robins' Sky Blues on loan until the end of the current season.
"The last 24 hours have been hectic to say the least but quite overwhelming as well," he said, speaking to the club's official site. "Everyone has welcomed me with open arms, so it's been good as well.
"I'm quite an athletic player. I play left-back but I can play wing-back as well, so I like to get up and down the wings.
"The club's got a good philosophy of bringing through young players like Max (Aarons) and Jamal (Lewis), as well as Ben Godfrey. It's a good philosophy.
"The style of play attracted me to coming here. I like it a lot. Now I've met the people here, they're very nice as well. Those are the main things.
"I'm looking forward to going back on loan. The aim is just to get promoted, whether that be automatically or through the play-offs."
The defender, who can operate at left-back or in a wing back role, was touted with Premier League champions-elect Liverpool recently, following a breakthrough campaign in the Midlands. While a clutch of top flight clubs have regularly scouted the attacking defender.
McCallum was spotted playing non-league at Herne Bay and was also part of the Jamie Vardy academy before making the leap into professional football. He was signed by Sky Blues' recruitment chief, Chris Badlam, who spent a brief spell working under Stuart Webber at Carrow Road.
Canaries' head coach Daniel Farke believes McCallum could be a perfect fit.
"Sam is a very interesting talent and we're delighted that he sees his long-term future with us," he said. "We're all excited by his potential. He's a young, homegrown player who we hope can continue to develop and improve.
"We will allow him to work with all of the right tools in our environment and look forward to seeing how far he can progress."
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