- Norwich’s impressive record of developing young players through academy.
- How Idah never truly fulfilled his potential during his time at Carrow Road.
- The Norwich star who could be in danger of becoming the next Idah.
Norwich City are famed for their development of academy talent, having brought through so many talented players over the years.
In recent times, the likes of Max Aarons, Jamal Lewis, Jonathan Rowe, Andrew Omobamidele, Todd Cantwell, and Josh and Jacob Murphy come to mind.
Developing young players so that they fulfill their potential is difficult, though, because the stars do not always align, as they did for Aarons, Lewis, and Cantwell under Daniel Farke.
Adam Idah is one example of a talented young player who never quite hit the heights that were expected of him early on in his time at Carrow Road.
Why Idah never lived up to the hype at Norwich
After scoring 25 goals in 54 games for Norwich’s U19s and U21s, the Irish striker made his first-team breakthrough under Farke in the 2019/20 campaign.
He burst onto the scenes with a stunning hat-trick against Preston North End in the FA Cup in January 2020, in what was just his third senior start for the club.
However, timing is everything in football and Idah emerged at a time when Teemu Pukki was the main man for the Canaries in the centre-forward position.
Pukki was the starting striker for four of Idah’s five seasons in the first-team, which meant that he was never going to break into the team as a regular starter, even less likely when Josh Sargent signed in 2021.
It was reported that Norwich were due to send him out on loan before he scored a hat-trick against Preston, and they ended up keeping him as a bit-part player for the next 18 months.
Idah then went on to start 19 league games through the 2019/20 to 2022/23 campaigns combined, severely stunting his development and progress with no regular minutes on the pitch.
That eventually led to him joining Celtic on loan in January 2024, after falling down the pecking order under David Wagner, before signing permanently for the Scottish giants that summer.
If he had been given the chance to go out on loan early on in his time at Carrow Road, though, he may have picked up the vital experience and confidence that he needed to kick on in Norfolk.
The player in danger of becoming the next Idah
Philippe Clement and Ben Knapper can take learning from how Idah failed to live up to the early hype around his potential when dealing with the current crop of young talent.
Something that not many supporters picked up on from the 2-1 win over Millwall was that Errol Mundle-Smith did not make the matchday squad.
With Oscar Schwartau and Mohamed Toure returning from injury, the 20-year-old forward has not made the bench in either of the last two league games.
Mundle-Smith came off the bench in all five of the games before the March international break, helping Norwich to win four times, and showed great energy and technical promise in his cameos.
His potential has also been noticed by the coaches at St. George’s Park because he was called up to the England U20 squad for the first time, playing in a 3-3 draw with Italy.
Unfortunately, though, he is yet to make a matchday squad since returning from international duty, because of the players that have come back from injury in the senior squad.
What comes next for Mundle-Smith
Playing and trusting young players is part of the Norwich identity, but they also have to know when the right time to trust them is.
Mundle-Smith looks like an incredibly promising young forward, having scored 22 goals in 55 games at academy level as a winger or striker, but he does not look likely to be a regular starter in the first-team next season.
Norwich have Ante Crnac and Matej Jurasek to come back on the right flank, whilst already having Oscar Schwartau and Paris Maghoma, whilst Mohamed Toure, Jovon Makama, and Mathias Kvistgaarden could occupy the striker positions.
The Canaries do not want Mundle-Smith to end up as a perennial substitute, or as a player who only makes the matchday squad on rare occasions, which is why he should be loaned out this summer.
His ten appearances in the Championship this season have, hopefully, shown other teams that he has the potential to be a useful player at that level, which could earn him a move to a team lower down in the table.
Whether it is to a team fighting relegation from the Championship or to a team with promotion ambitions in League One, Mundle-Smith could greatly benefit from playing regular football next season.
That is why Norwich must send the England U20 international out on loan this summer, so that they can avoid creating their next Idah.
