Norwich City beat Championship rivals Brighton to seal signing of Alex Pritchard from Tottenham

Recently relegated Norwich City have bolstered their bid for an immediate return to the Premier League by completing the signing of attacking midfielder Alex Pritchard from Tottenham Hotspur. The former England U21 international has signed a four-year contract at Carrow Road for an undisclosed fee and will hope to make his debut at Ewood Park on Saturday (6 August), as Alex Neil's side open their 2016/17 Championship campaign away to Blackburn Rovers.

Pritchard joined the Tottenham academy from West Ham United seven years ago. He spent time with Peterborough United and Swindon Town before showcasing his second-tier pedigree with a highly impressive season-long loan spell at Brentford in 2014/15.

The 23-year-old made just two first-team substitute appearances in total for Spurs and appeared only three more times off the bench during a hugely underwhelming stint at West Brom last term that followed his recovery from surgery on a serious ankle injury suffered at the Uefa European Under 21 Championship.

He was expected to join Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this week amid widespread reports that an £8m ($10.6m) fee had been agreed, although that deal was effectively hijacked by the Seagulls' promotion rivals Norwich. Chris Hughton has since swooped to sign Oliver Norwood from Reading.

Speaking to the club's official website after confirmation of the move, Pritchard said: "I'm ready to come here, fight for my place and hopefully play well. I feel I need to go out and prove myself again in football. I'm 23 now so it's about time I had my own path really. I've had a full pre-season and with our first game at the weekend I'm looking forward to hopefully bedding myself in quickly."

Neil added: "Alex is an exciting player who is capable of both scoring and creating goals. He is proven at this level having excelled at Brentford two seasons ago, and adds to our attacking options. I'm really looking forward to working with him on a day-to-day basis."

Pritchard was not the only Norwich signing announced on Thursday morning, with experienced former Portsmouth goalkeeper Paul Jones also joining on a free transfer after Declan Rudd's loan switch to Charlton Athletic. Neil, who lost Nathan Redmond to Southampton in June and recently lost out to Aston Villa in the race for Ross McCormack, has also recruited Sergi Canos and Michael McGovern so far this summer.