Adam Idah to be disciplined by Norwich for pre-season no show

Published 30th Jul 2024
Last updated 30th Jul 2024

Adam Idah will be internally punished by Norwich after failing to show up for their pre-season flight to Austria.

The striker was forced to get a later flight than his teammates at the weekend after going AWOL.

Idah sat out of their friendly match on Tuesday evening with Canaries boss Johannes Hoff Thorup admitting afterwards that Celtic's interest is probably the reason for his no show.

Celtic have had a bid rejected for the striker this window following his successful loan spell last season.

The 23-year old scored nine goals in 19 matches before returning to his parent club.

Thorup said: “He reported late for the flight on Sunday morning for reasons that should never happen.

“So I spoke to him the other night. And of course we told him that he had to come to Austria as fast as possible. He came during the night and I spoke to him again.

"I said ‘We as a group of players want to create a protecting environment and this can never happen’. You cannot be a part of the game squad for this game.

“He was sad about the situation and apologised and so on. We will get him back into the group. But it's also an important message for us to say that there will be consequences when you don't do your stuff."

Asked if Idah would be disciplined, he replied: "Yes, we will handle that internally.”

Thorup also admits the constant speculation about Celtic could have been a factor.

“Of course, it'd be fair to say because he is a young boy. And this is maybe the first time in his career where there is so much attention on him and so many media stories and so on,” he said.

“I can completely understand that can be difficult for a football player to handle. So it will take some more conversations with him. And we will of course integrate him again and everyone will be there to support him.

“But it's also important for us to make it very, very clear that we have our rules internally. If you step out of that and do something that is not aligned with that then of course you cannot play with the rest of the group. But he is a good boy and I don't think it was on purpose. It was just too much going on.”

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