If building suspense helps make for a successful signing then Norwich City and Borja Sainz should be delighted.

It was early June when the 22-year-old Spanish winger was first linked with the Championship club. Come the final hours of the month, and after much repeated nudging by supporters on social media day after day, Norwich confirmed his signing.

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Sainz, a former Spain Under-19 international, has agreed to a three-year deal and is Norwich’s fourth signing of the summer alongside former Burnley striker Ashley Barnes, ex-Bournemouth right-back Jack Stacey and Fulham centre-back Shane Duffy.

All four have been signed as free agents, which says all you need to know about Norwich’s financial situation despite the club still being in receipt of a final year of parachute payments. Both years of that revenue were already accounted for come the summer of their Premier League relegation in 2022, underscoring their failure to compete for promotion at the first attempt, finishing 13th last season.

However, picking up Sainz for free did take a degree more awareness than their others.

In a surprise to absolutely nobody, we have completed the signing of Borja Sainz. 😀

Bienvenido, Borja 🇪🇸

— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) June 30, 2023

Sainz spent 2021-22 on loan at Real Zaragoza and was then sold by his parent club Alaves following their relegation from La Liga that season. He cost Turkish Super Lig side Giresunspor £2million ($2.5m) on a three-year contract with a £4.5m release clause. There was also a clause that released Sainz from his contract in the event of Giresunspor’s top-flight relegation and that was confirmed on the final weekend of the Turkish season; a few days after the first public links between Sainz and Norwich.

“As a player, I like the one-on-ones. I’m very vertical, I like to score goals and also help in defence,” said Sainz on his arrival at Carrow Road.

One reason why Norwich supporters are excited about the prospect of seeing Sainz in action for this team is what happened swiftly after those first links emerged.

Leading Antalyaspor 1-0 come the hour mark in a game Giresunspor had to win to keep their slim survival hopes alive, the home team countered. Sainz, as he often does, had drifted in from the left wing before bursting forward with the attack.

He received the ball in the left half-space, before standing up his defender.

A handful of secure touches — all with his right foot — eventually took him into a more central space, from where Sainz fired a glorious, swerving shot that nestled inside the goalkeeper’s top-left corner.

It was a brilliant goal and the ideal clip to sell Norwich’s recruitment target to their fanbase. It certainly served as a good example of Sainz’s potential and the best of what he can already do.

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Sainz caught the eye at Zaragoza as a progressive carrier of the ball, someone able to successfully take on players with the ball and who could receive progressive passes in dangerous areas, especially the penalty box.

He is quick in possession — he was the only Giresunspor player to average more than two successful dribbles per 90 minutes — and out of it. That allows him to be an effective presser (Sainz also ranked third at his club for tackles) and push high onto the opposition’s defensive line, in a bid to run in behind it or pick up loose backpasses.

Sainz scored twice in a 2-1 victory at 10-man Fenerbahce and again in a 1-0 at eventual champions Galatasaray. Two of those three goals owed to defensive errors but also his reading of the game and having the pace to take advantage. The example below was against Galatasaray, where their relatively straightforward defensive situation…

… was complicated greatly by Sainz’s pace.

Sainz’s football intelligence has seen him create and score goals by arriving late in the penalty box, as well as having the awareness to find a team-mate if they are in a better shooting position. He will often carry, pass or cross the ball and then continue his forward run into the box…

In doing so, he has a nice habit of finding space in the box…

Sometimes the ball will then find him in there too.

These attributes helped Sainz to 12 goal involvements last season — nine of them scored by himself — which ranked him second at Giresunspor and 18th in the Super Lig.

It is worth reiterating Sainz was in a poor Giresunspor side that struggled with changes in coaches and succumbed to relegation. No team that completed the Super Lig season scored fewer goals. Sainz was club leader in big chances created (seven) but also second in big chances missed (eight).

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With Sainz’s move to Norwich, it should be expected there are areas he will need to develop so he succeeds in England, initially in the Championship.

Sainz relies heavily on his right foot and while willing to drop deep with his back to goal to get involved in play, he can be prone to losing possession if there is pressure on him in those situations.

It will also be interesting to see the role Sainz is tasked with at Norwich by head coach David Wagner.

Sainz has spent two-thirds of his career working off the left flank; the remaining third on the right. At Giresunspor, that was mostly in a 4-2-3-1 and occasionally in a combination of 4-1-4-1 and 4-3-3.

On that left side, Sainz’s crossing would usually involve him taking the time to go back onto his right foot and hit a floating inswinger to the back post. He also enjoyed cutting into the left half-space area and looping a ball into forward runners. You can see this in the first picture of the previous example, as well as below.

A more reluctant option was to take the ball on the outside and cross with his left, where Sainz relies on a low ball that can prove easier to cut out.

The right flank does present more orthodox crossing opportunities on the outside and Sainz can deliver a dangerous outswinging cross from those positions; for much the same reason he often took Giresunspor inswinging corners from the left.

When he does play on the right, it can also nullify his effectiveness when cutting inside. But whichever flank Sainz is operating, when the ball is on the opposite side he will look to come in centrally and occupy a more traditional No 10 area or either half-space.

Just as interesting is when Sainz does not complete a dribble. Plenty of those carries last season ended with Sainz losing possession and getting the chance to show his competitive side — that pest mentality to win the ball back or stop his opponent so there are no swift and dangerous transitions. More than once, it all came with a frustrating arm in the air too.

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One more. Sainz went into the final game of the Super Lig season having nutmegged more players than anyone else (12). Also, no other player was nutmegged more (4).

The wider context of that final goal for Giresunspor was that while they went on to win 2-0, results elsewhere relegated them. Sainz was also sent off seconds after his goal for a second bookable offence, having celebrated by removing his shirt to reveal a tribute message.

All of which suggests life will be far from dull with Sainz on board.

Norwich will also hope his ceiling remains as high as it was perceived when he first played in La Liga as an 18-year-old, in 2019.

He already has more than 100 appearances in senior football at a relatively young age. Now he will get to start showing English football exactly what he has got.