Norwich may not be world-renowned for their ability to produce world-class players from their youth set-up, but a number of players in the current set-up look very promising for the future.
Yet, Alex Neil seems rather unwilling to risk giving them a chance. Understandable given that the stakes are higher than ever now that we are in the Premier League. He wasn’t afraid to do it last season; Josh Murphy, Jamar Loza, Connor McGrandles and Carlton Morris are all examples of players who featured last season in the Championship for the Canaries.
Two of the aforementioned youngsters scored in the league as well. Josh Murphy had a decent run in the first-team under Neil Adams and scored his first league goal for the club against Blackpool in a 3-1 win away from home. Jamar Loza also got a goal as he netted late into injury time to salvage a draw against Huddersfield earlier this year.
Despite this, only one Norwich academy product has featured in the Premier League so far this season. In fact, only two academy products have featured for Norwich in all competitions so far this season at all.
As I previously alluded to, the lack of talent in the youth squad has nothing to do with the lack of graduates around the Norwich first-team. So what is it? I think that Alex Neil has a distinct reluctance to use youth players. This is something that has probably been forced upon him due to the intense pressure that is under him 24/7 to be able to keep Norwich up in the ‘toughest league in the world’. The pressure Norwich come under week-in-week-out means that the tried and tested are always going to be picked by Alex Neil so that no risks are taken.
However, the tried and tested do not always perform and sometimes an influx of youthful experience can galvanise a team’s form and help them to gain points; something that Norwich are in desperate need of in their pursuit of Premier League survival. There has already been one prime example of this in one of Norwich’s relegation rivals; Duncan Watmore. The 21-year-old winger has come into the Sunderland side and really helped revive their form and take them from the favourite, to now, probably one of the teams most likely to stay up with their upturn in form. With Sunderland look devoid of options going forward and lacking the belief that they could do well Watmore provided them with the platform to go forward and play better football. Now, they are starting to get better results.
Alex Neil should take note of this. This topic has been highlighted following the under-21’s enthralling 7-2 victory over the much raved about Southampton youth side. One player that stood out was Jamar Loza. He scored five of the seven goals and was the best player on the pitch by a large margin. It wasn’t just his goals but the way he carried himself around the pitch and the areas that he picked the ball up in, as well as the sharpness of his finishing.
So, could he have the impact Watmore has had at Sunderland at Norwich? I think he possibly could. He has all the attributes to make it at Norwich; pace, stamina, work rate, finishing and the overall quality that is needed in the Premier League. He has been proving himself in the youth set-up for years now and when he got his chance in the Championship last season; he took it, scoring. Despite all this, he still isn’t getting a look-in. This becomes even more strange when you consider that Norwich’s top three strikers, Lewis Grabban, Cameron Jerome and Dieumerci Mbokani, have scored just five Premier League goals between them all season.
I am not saying we should start him straight away in the Premier League but give him a chance to impress by having him on the bench for a few matches and bring him on for 20 minutes here and there and see how he does. Worst case scenario, he doesn’t make an impact. But then, our strikers haven’t been doing that anyway. Whereas, if he does well and goes on and has a similar impact to someone like Watmore, it will be huge for Norwich and could be the deciding factor in our bid to stay in the league.
Do I think Alex Neil will do this though? No. I think his over-reliance on the older contingent of the squad isn’t going to change anytime soon. If it was, we probably would have already seen a couple of youth team players on the bench this season; we haven’t.
Jamar Loza is not the only player that I think could make an impact in the first-team. Despite being out on loan to Coventry, Jacob Murphy could well come back and make an impact in the first-team. He has been in scintillating form this season and it would not surprise me to see his loan move cut short so that he can go on loan to a Championship team or be used by Alex Neil in his side in the second half of the campaign.
Do you think the youth should be given more of a chance by Alex Neil? Or are the stakes just too high?
