Ivan Rakitic is certainly a player that has been monitored by plenty of clubs, so its very much a long shot to believe that Norwich could pull off a deal for the Sevilla FC midfielder. However, if we were to suspend realistic expectations for a while, I think a lot of Norwich fans would agree that Rakitic would make the perfect replacement for Wes Hoolahan. The 25-year-old has won 60 caps for Croatia and has that level of versatility that would excite Chris Hughton. The player does play most of his games in attacking midfield, which is good news since this is the role that the club are likely to want him to play in. The stats that matter show that he has scored 10 goals and made eight assists so far this season. Further stats include 2.8 shots, 2.7 key passes and 0.9 dribbles per match as well as an average rating of 7.79. I think most people would see him as a dream signing for Norwich, but in truth, any one of the players mentioned in this slideshow would be fine additions to the squad and easily have the ability to replace Hoolahan. The one other thing they all have in common is being younger players and thus providing the Premier League side with more longevity than the Irish wizard.
James Kent is a freelance writer published on Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, FTBpro, Bloomberg Sports and many others. He has also been featured in the Daily Telegraph, Zoo Magazine, MSN Sport and the Manchester Evening News.
His role on What Culture is currently to produce compelling football articles that nearly always use of combination of stats and strong opinion. Feel free to connect with James via Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
