Transfer speculation hints at how Norwich City’s attempts to be competitive as a self-funded club can be successful in the long term.

That’s the view of Canaries head coach Daniel Farke after seeing defender Ben Godfrey linked with a £25m move to German clubs Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Leipzig within hours of Saturday’s 1-0 home loss to Brighton.

Godfrey and City talents Todd Cantwell, Emi Buendia, Jamal Lewis and Max Aarons have all consistently been linked with bigger clubs, but Farke is calm about the expected increase in speculation as relegation back to the Championship looms.

“For 18 months I have lived with these speculations. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to it,” he said.

“Of course we have many young players and it’s also a sign that we do something right for the developing of the young players that they have developed unbelievably well. And also in the past when I think about players like James Maddison or Angus Gunn, or the Murphy twins, it’s a part of our way that we want to develop young players.

“When they develop even a bit quicker than the club and a bigger club wants to sign them that is more or less a sign that we are doing something right. But the reality is they are our players and the good thing is that we didn’t invest that much money, in terms of spending money, for high quality players in the summer.

“Right now we are in the situation where we are financially absolutely solid and don’t have any pressure at all to sell. So I am quite relaxed.”

City balanced the books in 2018 when raking in over £45million through the sales of players including James Maddison, Josh Murphy and Alex Pritchard but even with relegation bringing financial challenges, Farke believes City are in a strong bargaining position.

“I think that’s our big advantage after our promotion, from our position two years ago,” he added. “We are in a much better situation and we must develop the club further on.

“If we can go on like this then hopefully in two or three years we will be able to spend some money into bringing real quality, another level of quality, to make our lives easier – it would make my life easier, that’s for sure.

“So I am looking forward to being in this position.”