Jez Moxey is worth the wait as Norwich City's new chief executive, insists chairman Ed Balls.

Moxey will officially replace David McNally at Carrow Road once he has overseen a takeover at Championship rivals Wolves and Balls is convinced Norwich have recruited the real deal, with the 53-year-old a prominent figure inside football and an astute operator in the transfer market.

'He relishes a challenge and we wanted someone as ambitious as us to get us back in the Premier League,' said the City chairman. 'We had a really strong field. All of our short-list were currently chief executives in either the Championship or the Premier League, but we all decided Jez was our first choice. The fact he is on the boards of both the Football League and the Football Association tells you how high his standing is in the game.

'We met him a number of times with the headhunters but we did our due diligence and spoke to a lot of people within the game. We wanted someone who understood the commercial aspect of running a club like Norwich and the football side and in particular the transfer part of the business. That is so important to a club like ours. We wanted a strong leader with an excellent track record but someone who understood our values and our community ethos and the importance of our fans.'

Moxey has spoken to both interim chief executive Steve Stone and manager Alex Neil but will play no part in City's on-going transfer search until he cuts his ties at Molineux.

'It will be a few weeks before he can move over,' said Balls. 'This is not just about the next few weeks and months but the longer term and we decided to go for the best. I have met him a number of times as have Delia and Michael and he has been talking with Steve and Alex. He is raring to go and thinking about things already but he has contractual obligations with Wolves and they are a competitor of ours so we have to do this properly, but he is chomping at the bit.

'We had set out as a board to have the appointment announced by the start of the season. We didn't say that publicly because we didn't know if it could be done but we have achieved it with 10 days to spare.'