Norwich City came out on top from the £25m deal that saw Ben Godfrey depart Carrow Road for Everton in 2020.
Godfrey signed for the Canaries as a youngster from York City, before helping the side to the Championship title in the 2018/19 season.
A Premier League relegation followed, and Godfrey was one of the players to depart in that £25m deal to Everton, a club-record sale for Norwich.
Losing such a promising young defender will have felt like a shame at the time but, in hindsight, it feels like the move worked out for the best from the Canaries’ perspective.
Godfrey was worth Norwich’s investment for 2018/19 alone
Norwich paid just £150k to York City for the signature of Godfrey as he turned 18 years old in January 2016.
He went into the club’s development squad, and it would not be until the 2018/19 season that he would truly start to impact the first team.
Godfrey began that campaign as a squad player, but got his chance at a full 90 minutes midway through December against Bolton Wanderers.
From that point, he was in, he played every single minute of the rest of that season, culminating in the Canaries lifting the Championship title and earning a spot in the Premier League.
Everton capitalised on Norwich’s position to land Godfrey
Godfrey’s season in the top tier with Norwich did not see quite as much success.
He was once again a mainstay in the defensive unit, even captaining the side on a couple of occasions, but Norwich didn’t have enough as a squad to stay afloat in the division.
Nevertheless, with Godfrey still only 22 at the end of that season, he had proven capable of sustaining himself at the top level.
With Norwich looking to reshape their finances after the demotion, Everton – impressed by Godfrey’s progress – made a bid they couldn’t refuse, worth as much as £25m.
It was no doubt gutting to lose such a bright prospect, but the Canaries knew they couldn’t take him back down with them, and the fee meant an incredible return on their initial investment; a club-record sale, too.
Godfrey’s career since leaves Norwich looking like winners
The defender had a good opening season with the Toffees, starting 28 games en route to a respectable mid-table finish.
But his Premier League minutes for Everton diminished season-on-season from that point forward, through a mixture of selection and injury issues.
| Godfrey’s senior career prior to Ipswich, as per Transfermarkt | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Apps | Goals | Assists |
| Everton | 93 | 0 | 3 |
| Norwich City | 78 | 5 | 2 |
| Shrewsbury Town | 51 | 1 | 0 |
| York City | 15 | 1 | 0 |
| Atalanta | 5 | 0 | 0 |
That trajectory saw Godfrey sold to Italian outfit Atalanta for just £10m in 2024, less than half what Norwich had received four years earlier, but played just 22 minutes in Serie A for his new side before being loaned out to Ipswich Town, struggling for survival in the Premier League.
Godfrey was approaching his 27th birthday when he made that move to the Tractor Boys, so still has time on his side in terms of getting his career back on track.
Nevertheless, up until that point, it’s difficult to see how anyone did better from that £25m deal than Norwich City, befitting from some of his best football and before making a huge profit from his sale.
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