Luke Chadwick will be confirmed as Norwich City's first signing of the transfer window, manager Peter Grant admitted. The 26-year-old winger has been on loan from Stoke City since mid-November - officially “with a view to a permanent move” - but a fee of around £220,000 is long since reported to have been agreed between the two clubs.

Luke Chadwick will be confirmed as Norwich City's first signing of the transfer window, manager Peter Grant admitted last night.

The 26-year-old winger has been on loan from Stoke City since mid-November - officially “with a view to a permanent move” - but a fee of around £220,000 is long since reported to have been agreed between the two clubs.

And despite Chadwick being sidelined since his debut at Ipswich - needing an operation on a gashed knee after crashing into an advertising board - Grant said the deal was done and dusted.

“Chadwick will be done, he'll become a Norwich City player. Later in the week that will all be signed, sealed and delivered,” said Grant, who is hoping it will just be his first January capture.

“I'd love to have a busy month. The biggest problem you get now is managers all hanging on there because of so many Premier League teams fighting relegation. They're loath to even let squad players out and that's the same with the top ones challenging for the Champions League positions, so I'll be on the phone desperate to get people in. I think if I could get two, three, four people in I'd be absolutely delighted."

Grant has been linked with two Celtic players - striker Derek Riordan and midfielder Stephen Pearson - and another priority will be a goalkeeper.

“I need to bring a goalkeeper in because young Joe Lewis on the bench is only a young kid. He's not played any league football, what you would call men's football, and he needs to be tested,” said Grant.

As for possible departures, striker Robert Earnshaw - who took his goal tally to 17 for the season with a penalty in yesterday's 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace - is bound to be sought after.

Said Grant: “Hopefully Robert's going to be staying with us as long as I'm the manager here, but everybody's got a price whether you're playing in Spain, England or whatever. They've all got a price on their head and if somebody offers you something that you think you can't knock back, it's something I'll look at and unfortunately we're not the only club like that. I think every club in England's like that apart from the top three or four.”