Peter Grant will turn to the hard-sell during the summer as he tries to persuade his transfer targets to help the Norwich City promotion push next season.

By CHRIS LAKEY

Peter Grant will turn to the hard-sell during the summer as he tries to persuade his transfer targets to help the Norwich City promotion push next season.

The Canaries boss admits he will face tough competition from clubs with money to burn following their relegation from the Premiership - but insists he has a better product to sell prospective new signings.

“There are a lot of clubs that I'd say we are bigger than that will come out of the Premier League and still be able to afford 10 times as much as we will be able to afford, just because of the finance they have got from a season in the Premier League,” said Grant, preparing for City's last home game of the season, against Southampton today.

“Their money goes up with the parachute money plus all the Premier League players already there. So you know it going to be a massive challenge to try and bring in the players you want.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the players I'll be wanting some of these other guys will also be wanting and what we have got to try and sell them is our club and our ambition.

“We have to do a hard sell on them in that respect and that the ambition of this club is to be back in the Premier League.

“It's the only ambition I have, I know it's the ambition that the board of directors have, and I know that's what the supporters want. That is where we want to be and hopefully we can attract the best players here, but that is tough because everybody wants that type of players.

“But this is a fantastic club to sell - we have a lot of massive things that are very positive here that we can use to our advantage and hopefully we can.

“We want to bring people back here and the biggest thing to do that is to try and attract them the way you play football. To put a seed in their minds, hopefully, that is going to move us forward this season.”

Grant and his coaching team have travelled the length and breadth of Britain and made regular forays into Europe as they look for new talent.

The job now is to persuade those players that City is the place to further their careers.

“Since I came in in October I have put feelers out about certain players,” he said. “We have a hell of a lot of air miles as the board will tell you - the flight money we have spent is a hell of a lot because we have been up and down the country, everywhere, we have been abroad, looking at everything that is out there.

“We know a hell of a lot of players that are out there, now it's just trying to attract them here and getting them here and obviously being part of what we are trying to achieve.”

While Grant will be chasing new signings, he is likely to be tempted into some sales as well, with Robert Earnshaw bound to be a wanted man following his successful return from injury, and Dickson Etuhu reportedly attracting admirers from the top flight.

However, Grant says the fact they are still under contract means the ball is firmly in his court.

“It is never a worry for me,” he said. “If they offer you the money you think the players are worth, first and foremost you speak to the player - and you can tell in the players' eyes if the player wants to go.

“The ultimate decision comes down to the player. If the player doesn't want to go anywhere the player will make that decision.

“I will be absolutely delighted if I get phone calls for all the squad, it means they are doing the business and that's the ideal world I would love to have.

“The good thing is they are our players, they are contracted to us and that is the most important thing.

“These guys have done exceptionally well - Earnie could probably have had 30 goals if he'd kept fit. Dickson has done exceptionally well since I came here apart from two or three games and I would be surprised and disappointed if people didn't phone me about them.

“The good thing is I can say no, because all these boys are under contract.”