Chris Sutton backs Adam Idah to deliver on potential and provide X-Factor on Norwich return

TIME TO DELIVER: Norwich City’s Adam Idah. Pic: Joe Giddens/PA Wire.

Norwich City legend Chris Sutton has implored Adam Idah to inject the X-factor into the Canaries’ promotion quest.

A knee injury ruled Corkman Idah out of the final four months of last season as Norwich suffered their second relegation from the Premier League in three years.

Norwich will begin the new Championship campaign – the fixtures for which are released on Thursday morning – as one of the favourites for promotion and Sutton wants the Ireland international leading their charge.

Ex-Norwich striker, whose £5m transfer to Blackburn Rovers in 1994 broke the English transfer record, feels it’s high time that Academy graduate Idah takes the initiative by proving he’s the real deal.

While Teemu Pukki has carried the goal burden at Carrow Park in recent years, Sutton is looking for his sometime strike partner to use this campaign to make a starting place his own.

“There is only so long that you can be bracketed as someone with potential,” Sutton wrote in his weekly ‘Pink Un’ column.

“Idah isn't a new name but he could quite possibly provide the X-Factor that Norwich need next season. He needs to do it for himself, more than anything.

“Eventually, you have to come to the fore and show that you can realise it. This cannot be another season where he is on the cusp of the team and playing second fiddle. He must make his mark.

“For the last few seasons, Idah has been seen as a player at Norwich City with massive potential. At 21, now is the time for the Irish international to realise it.

“He burst on the scene in 2020 with that hat-trick against Preston and I predicted he wouldn't look back but setbacks and injuries have halted his progress at the club.

“In the Championship, you would hope that the opportunity to play regularly and in a senior role will come for him. Then it is down to him to snatch it with both hands.”