The Canaries are growing increasingly desperate in their pursuit of a striker to replace the departed Dean Ashton, having failed to tempt Earnshaw's former club Cardiff City into selling Cameron Jerome and seen MK Dons striker Izale McLeod sign a new deal at the National Hockey Stadium.
With every man and his dog knowing that City banked £7million from the sale of Ashton, however, value for money seems hard to come by. Bryan Robson has made sure that Earnshaw is no exception by reportedly asking for £3million for his want-away striker.
“We made an inquiry for the player - but the price that was quoted was out of our reach,” said Worthington, entering into what appeared to be exactly the sort of public negotiation Chief Executive Neil Doncaster has discouraged.
There are just three days left of the transfer window, and City have made no net additions to their squad and lost their top scorer. There is a reserve team outing against Arsenal, for which the Yellows will struggle to raise a side, before a first team trip to Championship leaders Reading on Tuesday. The chances of a new icon being among the City ranks at the Madejski Stadium seem increasingly remote.