Turner primed for Norwich transfer (From Durham Times)

Turner primed for Norwich transfer

1:03pm Thursday 26th July 2012 in News

SUNDERLAND defender, Michael Turner is understood to be close to completing a move to Norwich City.

The centre-back was yesterday reportedly set to undergo a medical with the Canaries.

Turner joined Sunderland in 2009 from Hull and has made 77 appearances for the club since.

The 28-year-old only managed 16 appearances in his second season when he suffered from a serious knee injury.

On his return from injury he struggled to make himself a permanent fixture on the team sheet with ex-Manchester United pair Wes Brown and John O’Shea in contention for spots at the back.

Last season he featured more with Brown being injured but ultimately failed to make enough of an impact for manager, Martin O’Neill to feature him in his plans.

O’Neill completed the signing of Carlos Cuellar earlier this month and, even with Brown sidelined for the start of the season, the Black Cats manager is still left with an abundance of centre-backs to choose from, including Bramble, O’Shea and Matt Killagon.

Norwich boss Chris Hughton has already signed Steven Whittaker from Rangers, who came off injured in a pre-season friendly against Celtic on Tuesday.

Zoltan Gera made his return to action for West Brom as they beat Copenhagen 3-0 in a pre-season friendly in Denmark last night.

The Hungarian, who has been absent since rupturing knee ligaments against Tottenham in December, was a 71st-minute substitute.

The Baggies led 1-0 at that point thanks to Steven Reid’s 15th-minute goal. Shane Long converted a late penalty and Gabriel Tamas netted the third in stoppage time.