According to journalist David Ornstein for The Athletic, Dean Smith has been offered the job at Carrow Road and is set to be announced as Norwich manager in the next 48 hours.

The Athletic have also reported that the plan is also to secure Craig Shakespeare, who has previously worked as assistant manager at Leicester and Aston Villa, as Smith's second in command.

Norwich are said to be confident in appointing both men over the next 48 hours, giving the pair plenty time to settle into their new roles and begin working on the huge challenge of pulling the Canaries from the grips of relegation in the Premier League this season.

Smith knows what it takes to keep teams up

Smith is familiar with relegation battles in his previous role with Aston Villa and will surely offer some invaluable experience and insight at Norwich as they try to drag themselves out of the bottom three over the next few months. The manager famously saved Villa from relegation on the last day of the 2019/20 season with a draw at West Ham.

The 50-year-old will be hoping to emulate his success of transforming Villa into an established Premier League club at Carrow Road, with a squad of hungry young players desperate to make an impression with hopes of staying in the top flight next season.

Norwich have only managed to take five points so far from a possible 33 and are currently bottom of the Premier League table, five points shy of 17th-placed Watford.

Daniel Farke was sacked shortly after the Canaries secured their first win of the season last weekend away to Smith's former club Brentford, ending his four-and-a-half-years in Norfolk.

Smith became the frontrunner for the job and accelerated to being offered the Norwich head coach role after former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard was ruled out of the job yesterday afternoon.

The 50-year-old is already familiar with Premier League relegation battles and, as stated above, came out the right side of the line with Villa a couple of seasons ago. Ornstein's claim that Smith is on the brink of getting the Norwich job several days before their next match against Southampton should have Canaries fans buzzing, as a proven top-flight operator will have time to implement his ideas on the training ground by the time the Saints come to Carrow Road.

In other news: Norwich may beat the drop by unleashing “world-class” talent who’s in a ”rough patch”