Norwich City may be sweating on £6.9m investment – Josh Sargent stay may not have helped

Norwich City may be sweating on £6.9m investment – Josh Sargent stay may not have helped.

After five Championship matches, the 23-year-old, who came from Brondby IF with a stellar reputation, has yet to contribute a goal.

Kvistgaarden signed a four-year contract with a one-year option amid great enthusiasm.

With Ben Knapper, sporting director, praising him as a “wonderfully talented, versatile attacking player” whose

movement and enthusiasm would win over spectators, the Canaries had defeated rival teams from all around Europe

for his signature.

With 23 goals and seven assists in 38 games, a spot in the Danish Superliga team of the season, and his first senior

international cap in June 2025, the statistics from his final season in Denmark indicated that Norwich had signed a

prolific prospect.

It was hoped that Kvistgaarden would help propel the team into the top two, especially since their declared goal is to

return to the Premier League.

Mathias Kvistgaarden’s slow start at Norwich City raises early questions

However, five games into the season, there is still no tangible result to show for that substantial investment.

Despite showing some signs of promise during last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers, manager Liam

Manning pulled the forward early in the second half as he looked to strengthen his team’s lead.

The fact that Josh Sargent, Norwich’s well-known talisman, is still at Carrow Road could be one of Kvistgaarden’s obstacles.

Many anticipated that the American striker would leave during the summer transfer window, which may have

allowed the Dane to take centre stage in Norwich’s assault.

Instead, Sargent stayed, and Manning has been tasked with building a strike partnership rather than replacing a

departing star.

Saturday’s victory at Ewood Park marked the first time the pair were named in the starting XI together. Manning

was encouraged by their early link-up play, noting that Kvistgaarden’s willingness to run beyond defenders created

space for Sargent to drop into deeper positions.

There were moments of genuine threat, most notably when the Dane rose at the back post to nod Jakov Medic’s

diagonal ball into Sargent’s path, forcing a deflected effort over the crossbar.

Waiting game for Norwich City if Josh Sargent and Mathias Kvistgaarden strike partnership develops

As the two learn to work together, patience will be needed. Due to his hectic summer, which included playing for

Denmark’s Under-21 team and moving overseas, Kvistgaarden is still attempting to reach his peak match fitness.

After the game, Manning said, “Those connections with Mathias will take a little bit of time.”

He will get a great deal of experience and confidence from the minutes. I hope we can continue to develop that.

For Norwich, the hope will be that building confidence leads to building goal returns.

For the past two seasons, Sargent has been largely responsible for scoring goals. Although wide players like Borja

Sainz have occasionally contributed, the Canaries need a reliable second goal source if they hope to make a real push

for promotion.

Therefore, there are grounds for cautious optimism as well as the persistent feeling that a player who paid £6.9

million should be producing more, faster.

The “Josh and Mathias” duo has the potential to become one of the Championship’s most powerful duos if

Kvistgaarden can convert his heritage into reliable results.

If not, the most significant summer investment in Norwich runs the risk of becoming a very costly passenger.’

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