Norwich City’s first team squad are away in Germany for their pre-season tour – which allows a cursory glance at the ones left out.
City head coach Daniel Farke has a group of 24 players to work with in mainland Europe, following the withdrawals of Timm Klose and Alex Pritchard with injuries sustained in Saturday’s friendly win at Cambridge United.
Louis Thompson already faces months on the sidelines after a second operation on his injured Achilles, leaving two senior players unaccounted for – and the news for either isn’t great.
A 90-minute appearance for City’s Under-23s in their EFL Trophy exit to Swansea’s development squad back in early December was the closest winger Matt Jarvis got to a first-team outing last season, after fighting a succession of injuries.
Jarvis still has two seasons left on his Norwich deal and there was some hope an injury-free pre-season could at least get the 31-year-old on a path to making a competitive return, be it at City or elsewhere.
However, the injury problems have returned and the winger will now go through pre-season without making a single appearance.
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“Matt still has some work to do with the doctors,” said Farke. “They are doing some pretty deep analysis of his ankle.
“He’s still got pain so I’m not sure if there is a concrete diagnosis for this, but it seems like he won’t be in Germany next week – so for sure, he will miss the whole pre-season and he won’t be back soon.”
The other player to miss out is Tony Andreu – the French attacking midfielder who has found first-team opportunities scarce since Alex Neil made him his first signing back in January 2015.
The 29-year-old spent last season on loan at Dundee United and has travelled to Germany – but his action will be limited to the Under-23 squad accompanying Farke’s group.
“Tony has trained and played for the Under-23s so he will concentrate on the Under-23 team, and it is not the plan to have him with us,” added Farke.
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Andreu’s future clearly lies away from Carrow Road and although there has been interest, the forward is yet to secure first-team football for the new season.
The better news is the hope Harry Toffolo will return to action while in Germany, after missing the recent pre-season exchanges with a minor injury.
“He has a problem with a muscle, it was in the game against Lowestoft when he had a strain,” said Farke. “It was going to take two weeks, one week has gone and he will need another week. Perhaps he will return in the middle of the German training camp, perhaps near the end, so we have to wait.
“It’s not the perfect pre-season plan but sometimes there’s an injury and you have to deal with it.”
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