2013/14: Hooper made his Norwich debut as a 63rd minute substitute for Johan Elmander in a 1-0 home defeat against Paul Lambert's Aston Villa (21.9.13). A few days later he netted his first two goals for the club in a 3-2 League Cup victory at Watford. Hooper had to wait until early November for his first Premier League goal for the Canaries, a penalty during a 3-1 win against West Ham at Carrow Road. In fact Hooper went on to become the first Canary to score in four successive Premier League matches at Carrow Road. However, he finished the season with a disappointing 8 goals (only 6 in the Premier League) in 34 appearances and Norwich were relegated.

Meanwhile Austin scored his first goal for Queens Park Rangers in a League Cup tie against Exeter City (1.8.13) and his first league goal in a 1-0 home win against Birmingham City (14.9.13). Austin finished the season with 20 goals in 37 appearances for Rangers, including 17 in the Championship and Rangers were promoted back to the Premier League as runners-up to Leicester City.

2014/15: A calf injury saw Hooper miss the opening two months of his second season as a Norwich City player, However, he finished the season with a respectable 12 goals (considering he didn't score his first goal of the season until November 22nd) in 34 appearances, all in the Championship including his first hat-trick for the Canaries in a 4-0 home win against bottom of the table Blackpool (7.2.15).

Despite Q.P.R getting relegated Charlie Austin had a brilliant season with 18 Premier League goals (almost half of Rangers' total amount of goals - 42) and an England call up. England manager Roy Hodgson selected Austin on May 21st 2015 for a friendly match against the Republic Of Ireland and a Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia. However Austin did not feature in either match.

In November 2012, Gary Hooper was set to join team mate and former Norwich loanee Fraser Forster in the England squad for their upcoming friendly against Sweden in Stockholm, after the FA had contacted Celtic about Hooper's fitness. However Celtic's medical team informed the FA that Hooper was injured and unavailable for selection.

2015/16: After an ankle injury had restricted Hooper to only two substitute appearances in the Premier League Alex Neill allowed him to join Sheffield Wednesday on loan until January 2016. There were rumours at the end of the summer transfer window that Hooper's reported £35,000 a week wages had put Wednesday and Fulham off signing him on a season long loan. It was also claimed in the media and Hooper requested a VIP box at Hillsborough. This seems a bit far fetched. Since he left Carrow Road (27.10.15) Hooper has yet to find the net for Wednesday following five appearances for the club, including two starts.

Meanwhile Charlie Austin remained at Loftus Road after Premier League clubs including Newcastle and West Ham were put off by Rangers' £15m asking price. Indeed, West Ham owner David Sullivan controversially suggested that signing Austin would be a huge risk for his club. "They say he has no ligaments in his knee, who knows?" said Sullivan. He continued, "And he didn't keep Queens Park Rangers up. If he'd kept them up single-handedly you might say it was different, and a few of those goals were penalties". The fact that Austin was sidelined again this season for a month with a hamstring injury probably didn't help his chances of changing Sullivan's views. However as I write Austin has scored 8 goals in 13 Championship appearances for Rangers in '15/16, making a total of 46 goals in 87 appearances (including only 6 as sub) up to and including December 3rd 2015.

The fact that Austin failed a medical when he was set to join Hull City in 2013 shouldn't necessarily be a major issue. Demba Ba failed a medical at Stoke before he became a success at West Ham and Loic Remy failed a medical at Liverpool before signing for Chelsea. Some pundits have questioned Austin's ambitions, suggesting that staying at Rangers will limit his chances of being selected for the the Euro 2016 finals next summer. However, Roy Hodgson has selected Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton on a regular basis this season and this suggests to me that the England boss is not biased towards Premier League players.

Ironically Gary Hooper signed for Norwich to boost his chances of an England call up. That looks far from likely in the foreseeable future. Hooper has made a total of 69 appearances for Norwich (including 26 as sub), scoring 20 goals. He has clearly suffered with the modern preference of managers to play with one striker up front and is therefore unlikely to ever forge a successful partnership with the likes of Grabban, Jerome or Mbokani in the mould of Drinkell/Biggins, Fleck/Rosario and Boyer/MacDougall. Hooper has arguably suffered with injuries more than what Austin has.