Norwich City’s injured top scorer Jon Rowe can still have a ‘big’ role in the club’s Championship promotion bid.
Rowe’s breakthrough season has been put on hold by a hamstring injury set to sideline him for the next couple of months.
The England Under-21 international had been a shining light in David Wagner’s squad, and his head coach predicts he will come back even better for the league climax.
Rowe made his Premier League debut in December 2021 but shin, heel, hand and now hamstring setbacks have tested his resolve.
“Yes, it's a blow obviously, for us as for him, but we will see how many games we can use him until the end of the season. We will see how long the season will continue,” said Wagner. “Now it's the full focus for him and our medical department to get him back as quick as possible. And that he recovers as good as he can.
“He is a big player for us. And he has done fantastic so far. He is still super young, but got experiences now with injuries as well, and how to come back after injuries - how to deal with situations like this - to make sure that you work maybe on the one or other weakness which you have, when you can't work during the day to day business of games.
"He has done that fantastically in the past. And I'm super confident that he will come back as strong as he was, with still a lot of space for improvement.”
Christian Fassnacht has scored twice in the last two games in Rowe’s absence, with fellow wide player Onel Hernandez heavily involved in goals against Watford and Cardiff.
“Farsi with his goals, Onel with his assist (against Watford) and Borja (Sainz) is now consistently in recent weeks on a very good level, performance-wise, with goals as well,” said Wagner. “There are players who play at the minute on a very good level, consistently, and play their part.
"The truth is, that at the minute, every player – whether a starter or an impact player from the bench - plays his part, has positive energy and really believes in what he's doing.
“I said this before, we had to be careful not to have a squad which is too thin because injuries are part of the game, unfortunately. They have to push further but, obviously, we are not massive on players in these last weeks and months of the season. This is the truth as well.”
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