The 25-year-old centre-back pens a three-year deal at Carrow Road, with a club option of an additional year.
This evening, Norwich City announced the acquisition of highly-rated defender Harry Darling on a free transfer from Sky Bet Championship rivals Swansea City.
The Englishman has signed a three-year deal at Carrow Road, with Norwich possessing the option to trigger an additional year later down the line.
Darling only confirmed on his social media pages this afternoon that he would be departing Swansea, although it has been known for a number of weeks that he intended to run down his contract in South Wales.
The defender becomes Norwich’s third signing of the summer, after midfielder Jacob Wright’s initial loan deal from Manchester City was made permanent and goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw arrived from Plymouth Argyle.
The Liam Manning effect
Darling had previously been heavily touted for a move to Scottish Premiership giants Rangers, and in turn a reunion with his former boss at Milton Keynes Dons Russell Martin. Instead, though, it was the Canaries who convinced the centre-back that Carrow Road was the logical next step for his career.
Clearly integral to Darling’s decision-making was Norwich’s recent managerial appointment of another of his former coaches at the Dons, Liam Manning.
“Liam (Manning) being in charge, I worked with him before at MK Dons so I didn’t need convincing too much about the style of play. I really enjoyed it last time working with him,” Darling said.
Manning’s Norfolk switch from Bristol City was confirmed at the beginning of this month, and has already begun moulding his own team at his new club in anticipation of the coming campaign.
Arriving in South Wales from the Buckinghamshire outfit prior to the 2022/23 season, Darling totalled 112 appearances across all competitions for the Swans. Last campaign, he notched an impressive five goals from central defence as Swansea enjoyed a late-season resurgence in form under caretaker manager Alan Sheehan, finishing just seven points off the play-off positions.
Swansea even finished four points ahead of Norwich, which seemed very unlikely after their 5-1 drubbing in Norfolk in late January.
Darling was suspended for that encounter, but returned two games later as Swansea won seven of their last 15 in the league.
The 25-year-old won’t be the last addition to Manning’s playing squad before the new Championship campaign kicks off, as Norwich seek to revamp a team which squandered multiple opportunities to climb into the play-offs in 2024/25.
Also possessing one of the leakiest defences in the division, conceding a whopping 68 Championship goals, Norwich will be confident Darling can rejuvenate their defensive fortunes.
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