Dean Ashton today put pen to paper on a record-breaking deal that
could cost City £3.5m - and worth every penny if he scores the goals
that help keep us up!

As well as the various add-ons (presumably related to staying up,
appearances and possibly goals scored) there is also an additional 20%
sell-on clause. City have given him a three-and-a-half year deal (with
a further one-year option).

Ashton has scored 74 goals for Crewe since the summer of 2000 (further
details at the end), including 20 this season (17 in the league),
currently making him the Championship's top striker. He has also
played for England at U19, U20 and U21 levels, including three U21
caps and two goals. He will join training at Colney on Tuesday
morning, ready to join the squad for Saturday's trip to Aston Villa.

Worthington said he was "delighted that we've been able to attract
such a young talent to Carrow Road. Dean is currently one of the best
young strikers in the country and has scored goals for Crewe on a
consistent basis. I hope he can continue to do so for us in the
Premiership and that he goes from strength to strength while he is
with Norwich City."

Ashton seemed equally delighted: "It's incredibly exciting. To come
from Crewe to a good club like Norwich and play in the Premiership is
tremendous. With Norwich I felt there was a chance to play regularly.
The main thing I've noticed is how professional the club is. All the
facilities are excellent. I would love to play as well as I can and
score as many goals as I can so Norwich can stay in this league."

Explaining the surprisingly large fee, Roger Munby said: "Dean is
obviously a very talented young player indeed with what will hopefully
be a bright goalscoring career stretching ahead of him. From the
moment Nigel and his coaching staff came to us with their firm
recommendation that this was their number one transfer target for the
January window, the board has carefully considered what it would take
to bring him here. Our ambition for the team matches Nigel's -
therefore the only question remaining was how we might fund the
largest transfer acquisition in the club's history. As has been
reported, we already had £1.2m available from the supporters who
backed us by choosing not to redeem their B Preference Shares in the
autumn. Some additional money was available to the board through the
club slightly exceeding budget in off-the-field commercial areas this
season. The significant amount needed to make up the shortfall to
complete the deal has been off-set against Premiership monies the club
will receive regardless of what division we will be playing in next
season. Even in the worst case scenario whereby we are relegated, the
club is guaranteed a substantial parachute payment next year. The
Board has taken another bold, calculated gamble to make this deal a
reality, just as we did when Darren Huckerby, Matt Svensson and Leon
McKenzie signed permanently for us last season."

Dean Ashton Factfile:
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 12st 8lb
DoB: 24-11-1983 (in Swindon)
Position: Forward
Nationality: English

Club From To League FAC LC Other
Crewe 1/8/00 10/1/05 131(27)61 6(3)5 6(1)3 3(0)5