Mathias Normann spent last season on loan in Premier League with Norwich. When his loan spell ended he was uncertain about his future with Russian club Rostov and has since been linked with several clubs including Leicester.
Norman has agreed to join Dynamo Moscow. The man in charge is former Sheff Utd and Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic. Jokanovic is from Serbia and joined Dynamo Moscow this summer after being out of management since sacked from his position at Bramall Lane in November 2021.
This move has set Mathias Normann and his international career on hold as Norway as a football nation will not pick players currently playing in Russian leagues, but do allow Russian players to play in Norwegian football. Bodo Glimt goalkeeper Nikita Haikin has been part of their squad since 2019, but in a special situation as he is born in Israel and carries both a Russian and English citizenship. He has earlier been at Chelsea and Reading as an academy player.
The national coach of Norway, Ståle Solbakken, has together with the president of NFF, Lise Klaveness, made the decision to not select Mathias Normann for future internationals as long as he continues to play for a club in Russia as the war in Ukraine continues.
Norman is not the only player with a former life in English football that has joined Russian clubs this summer. French midfielder Damien Le Tallec, brother of Anthony, that played for Liverpool a number of years back decided to join Torpedo Moscow after his spell at AEK Athens came to an end.
Mathias Normann has been a squad player for Norway since his debut back in 2019. He joined Russian club Rostov in 2019 and has since played 51 league games and scored 2 goals before last season when he was a starting player for Norwich as he took part in 23 league games and scored 1 goal.
Last season was challenging for Normann as he struggled to make a good presence at Norwich being in the relegation fight since day one. He was earlier in the summer linked with a move to Leicester, but that looked more as paper talk than concrete interest.
Reaction from Norway to this move is far from positive and the reason behind that very special decision made by the player was said to be a deal not able to turn down, but surely he could have signed for almost any club in Norway on loan as they would have taken him with open arms as the former Bodo Glimt and Molde midfielder has a high star at home.
Mathias Norman was eager as well to stay on at Norwich, but the move never happened. To see a Norwegian decide to make a move to a Russian club at this moment is looked up on as strange, but as the war continues there are still foreign players playing for Russian clubs.
Looking at the squads of those Russian top flight teams there are a number of foreign players present as they do continue. Players from African nations and South America are those dominating as especially Zenit still do have many foreign stars in their squad.
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