It seems Carlton Morris may not get to add to his solitary senior appearance for Norwich City, with the eighth loan stint of his Canaries career set to be confirmed with the striker in the final 12 months of his contract.
That’s according to the Milton Keynes Citizen, with the newspaper reporting that the 24-year-old City striker will seal a season-long loan return to League One side MK Dons this week, who are managed by Norwich legend Russell Martin.
That solitary appearance for City was all the way back in March 2015, replacing Nathan Redmond in the 77th minute of a 1-0 Championship defeat to Wigan Athletic at Carrow Road during Alex Neil’s time in charge as a 19-year-old.
By that time the Cambridge-born forward had already had brief loan stints with Oxford and York in League Two, having played a key part in the FA Youth Cup triumph of 2013 alongside players including the Murphy twins and Harry Toffolo.
Eight goals in 32 games for Scottish Premiership side Hamilton during 2015-16 got his career moving in the right direction and he was a regular for City’s U23s during the first half of 2016-17, scoring eight goals in 15 development games, before making eight Championship appearances for Rotherham during the second half of the campaign.
The big step forward came in 2017-18 with 10 goals in 53 games as Shrewsbury chased promotion from League One, only to suffer defeat at Wembley twice, to Lincoln in the EFL Trophy final and Rotherham in the play-off final.
That disappointment was compounded by Morris suffering knee ligament damage in the play-off final, initially trying to play on before having to give way to the pain.
His injury woe was compounded in January 2019 when an ankle injury scuppered his comeback appearance for City’s U23s.
However, Norwich showed faith in him by extending his contract until 2021 as he joined Rotherham at the start of this season, with four goals in 28 games for Paul Warne’s eventually promoted League One side.
Yet that was cut short in January as he switched to MK Dons, where he’d managed two goals in 10 games as Martin steered the Dons to safety in the third tier, prior to the season being cut short in March and eventually settled on a points-per-game basis.
All of which makes a return to Stadium MK seem a sensible next step in Morris’s eventful career so far, which could take him through to the end of his Norwich deal, having been an unused substitute for City on just four occasions since his debut.
He does have over 150 senior appearances on his CV though, scoring 25 goals, with plenty of time on his side to continue establishing himself at a good level of football.
Canaries legend Martin was waiting to learn of his old club’s Premier League fate when he spoke last month about his hopes of re-signing the striker.
He told the MK Citizen: “We have to be patient, but we all share the vision of him in an MK Dons shirt next season and I know if he is surplus to requirements at Norwich next season, his first choice and priority would be us. Hopefully we will see him next season.”
City midfielder Louis Thompson was also on loan with the Dons as he recovered fitness after injury problems. At this stage there has been no suggestion that the 25-year-old could be on his way back to MK as well.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here