'Underdoing medical' - Pompey title winner closes in on deadline day transfer exit after rejecting Barnsley

Pompey title-winning goalkeeper Will Norris is moving closer towards departing the club after previously rejecting a move to Barnsley.

Football Insider reports that the shot-stopper is undergoing a medical before a proposed move to Wycombe Wanderers. Transfer interest from the Chairboys was reported on Sunday and things have moved so quickly that a move to Adams Park is now on the cards.

The 32-year-old will be leaving Fratton Park permanently after Wycombe agreed a deal with The Blues. Norris has fallen down the pecking order under John Mousinho with Nicolas Schmid and Jordan Archer preferred ahead of him.

Norris’ departure does open up a spot in Pompey’s 25-man squad list that they will submit to the EFL once the transfer window is closed. It was reported late on Sunday that Kaide Gordon looked to be on his way to the South Coast from Liverpool. Despite being under the age of 21, the winger will have to be registered in Pompey’s squad list.

Will Norris’ career at Pompey

The Watford-born keeper joined from Pompey in 2023 after a loan spell at Peterborough United from Burnley. Norris was ever present in the league last term and kept an impressive 19 clean sheets.

Jordan Archer was recruited in June to provide Norris competition but the latter began the campaign. Austrian goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid was signed towards the end of August, but Norris only lost his place to him in the side following a 6-1 defeat to Stoke City.

This season, the ex-Wolves man’s record has been nine games played with two clean sheets. He hasn’t featured much in a match-day squad though with his last involvement being an unused substitute against Blackburn Rovers in mid-January.

What awaits Will Norris at Wycombe Wanderers

Wycombe have recently been without a manager after Matt Bloomfield headed to Pompey’s relegation rivals Luton Town. Sam Grace has been in caretaker charge for the last few weeks but on Sunday it was announced that Mike Dodds would be taking over. Dodds has been working as an assistant coach at Sunderland and was their interim manager last season.

The 38-year-old won’t be heading there immediately however as he will be supporting Regis Le Bris in the dugout for the Black Cats’ match with Middlesbrough. Dodds will begin this week though and when he takes his first training session on Thursday, Norris will be one of the players he will get to work with.

He will have the job of trying to displace Franco Ravizzoli between the sticks. The 27-year-old has been their first-choice goalkeeper for the majority of the season having played 30 times across all competitions, keeping 10 clean sheets.

Nathan Bishop who is on loan from Sunderland started the season but has only just returned to the first-team fold since January. Bishop will have worked with Dodds before at Sunderland and called him a ‘phenomenal coach and person’ so Norris will have his work cut out in trying to force his way into the new manager’s plans.

Despite losing their manager Wycombe have remained in the promotion battle and currently find themselves in second. Birmingham City are four points ahead of them and have two games in hand, but Wycombe do have a four point cushion over third-placed Wrexham, and so they're in a good position with just over a quarter of the season left.