canaries.co.uk: Can you tell us a bit about your knowledge of Josh Sargent?

JPW: I’ve watched him a lot since he was a youth team player with the USA national team. He banged in goals for fun for the U17s team. He comes from St. Louis which is an area in the US renowned for developing young talent. It has a really strong soccer heritage in producing some great players for the US national team over the years.

He’s kind of taken a different path, he didn’t go to college in the states and then moved over to Europe at a very young age, but if you look around at Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and all of those young American players, many of them moved to the Bundesliga at a young age and he’s in that same kind of group who the US national team have really high hopes for.

It’s been really interesting to see his development over the last few years because he has definitely kicked on. He’s a predatory forward who, in the youth teams in the US, got a lot of chances and scored a lot of goals.

I think at Werder Bremen there was a situation where they struggled and battled against relegation and were relegated last season, so he was kind of up against it and didn’t have a lot of help in the last few years in terms of chances created.

When he plays in teams that create a lot of chances, he’s a real livewire, loves to stretch defenders and get in behind the back line. For me, he’s really good when he’s playing with another striker up front, he’s not necessarily someone who could lead the line.

He has played the role but I think he’s much better when he’s playing off someone or maybe coming in off wide areas, so it’s really interesting to see his development since he’s come to Germany and I know Werder Bremen were really sad to lose him.

He was really well liked there and he’s a very intense player. He brings incredible intensity, pace and never stops running. I think Norwich City fans are really going to enjoy watching him play.

canaries.co.uk: How do you see him fitting into the style of play at Norwich?

JPW: Maybe initially, once he gets settled into the league, say Norwich are chasing goals in the second half trying to get back into a game or trying to grab a winner, he’d be a great option alongside Pukki or to come on out wide.

He’s really good at drifting in and out to the flanks. What I have noticed when he played for the USA the last few times in friendly games is that he really does cause problems for other teams. He’s often drifting out to the left flank in particular and whips in low balls and low crosses that other players have finished off, so I think he’s had that underappreciated role at Werder Bremen as well.

He works really hard out wide and he’s not just a central striker that can play on his own. He can play in a number of different roles - up front on his own, out wide or supporting a central striker as well - so he really does it all and is one of these players that never will complain about playing. He’ll play wherever the manager wants him to and works his socks off.

Speak to anybody with the US national team or anybody with Werder Bremen and they’ll only have good things to say about his attitude and commitment. That has never been questioned, so he’s a really level headed player and the kind of player that you want in your team and can always count on to give one hundred percent each week.

canaries.co.uk: And how about his chemistry with Milot Rashica, who he played with at Werder Bremen?

JPW: Of course, that will definitely help him get settled in and knowing the tendencies of another player that he’s played with for the past few seasons. Those two didn’t really have a lot of help.

I watched a lot of the Bundesliga because there’s a lot of young American players who have chosen that league to come to Europe to start with, there’s a really good pipeline there, so having watched a lot of Werder Bremen those two really stood out and it’s no surprise to me that they’ve turned up at a Premier League team.

There were a lot of Premier League teams interested in both of those players so I think that continuity and knowing how Rashica plays and making those runs will help.

Often you’d see Sargent making runs off the last man and in between the full back and the defender and Rashica would slot him in and vice versa and they did have a really good connection up top so I think that will be a great help to Josh, not just for settling into the Premier League but to hit the ground running as well, to look around and have someone that he knows how to play with and has done for the last few years, that’s only going to be a good thing.

canaries.co.uk: In terms of his character off the pitch, can you tell us a bit more about his personality?

JPW: He’s quite a quiet guy, very focused and driven. I know he’s good friends with Pulisic at Chelsea having come up through the ranks with him and they get on really well. He’s just an ultimate professional and that’s the only thing you hear when you speak to anybody around the US national team about him.

He’s got that quiet determination about him where he always surprises you. Every level he stepped up with the USA national teams, be it youth teams to U23s up to the full national team in recent seasons. He kind of takes it in his stride every single time.

They had a really good summer with the national team and he played a key role in some of those really big wins.

Of course, you had the Nations League final against Mexico and the semi-final against Honduras in the CONCACAF region and one thing that stood out to me that really summed up his character was that he was back on his own goalline making incredible clearances against Honduras to keep the USA in it and then at the other end he’s helping a few minutes later, running the channels and stretching the defence, so he’s always willing to put himself on the line.

He goes about his business day in and day out and I think he’s definitely someone you can depend on whenever you need to.

“He’s a real livewire” - expert view on Josh Sargent

More Club

#NCFC

Principal Partners

Primary Partners