Norwich City Transfers: 5 Central Defenders To Partner Sebastien Bassong

5. John Heitinga (Everton)

It appears that John Heitinga is set to leave Everton before the transfer window ends. Plenty of clubs have been linked with him, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up. When teams are struggling defensively, managers often think that what they need is more experience €“ so it€™s not hard to see why Hughton might turn to Dutch defender Heitinga. Experience is certainly something that the 30-year-old has in abundance after making close to 300 league appearances for clubs such as Ajax, Atletico Madrid and Everton; he has also won 87 caps for his country, scoring seven goals. Furthermore, the presence of fellow Dutch internationals Leroy Fer and Ricky van Wolfswinkel in the Norwich squad is likely to go in Hughton€™s favour should he make a move. It€™s difficult to draw any real conclusions from a statistical point of view, since the player hasn€™t started a single Premier League game this season. Of course, that also means that he isn€™t likely to be match fit in the immediate future, but that is countered balanced by some extent due to the extensive Premier League experience he has. When buying players in January, you want to be sure they can settle quickly, and that certainly should be the case with Heitinga.