My reading of it was that Norwich either had a release amount and Stoke met this, only for Norwich to say "yeah, but he aint for sale".
OR
Stoke wanted the player and Norwich said "ok matey, 8Million to you" to call their bluff/put them off. Stoke said "ok" and Norwich ran scared.
OR
Norwich are happy to accept 8Million, but the player refused to go to Stoke, so Norwich turned round and said "no, he's not for sale *whisper* to you..."