England Under-21 international Jonathan Rowe requested to be left out of Norwich City’s Championship defeat against Oxford United on Saturday.
Norwich City’s administration intends to undertake crunch talks with Jonathan Rowe after the Leeds United-linked forward rejected to play in the Championship opener against Oxford United owing to transfer interest. The 21-year-old is on the radar of both the Whites and French club Marseille as the summer transfer window nears its end.
United are in talks with City over Rowe’s status, while Marseille had an opening offer rejected for the attacker, with their price falling far short of the Canaries’ appraisal of the player. England Rowe, an Under-21 international, travelled to Oxford with the rest of the Canaries squad but requested to be excluded from the matchday roster.
Following their 2-0 loss at the Kassam Stadium, head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup stated, “The next plan is for him and I, as well as Ben (Knapper, sporting director), to have a conversation about what happened today and how we can help him move forward.” As I mentioned in Austria, incidents like this happen from time to time, and it is our responsibility to find the best solution and then go forward.
“But the most of it will be done internally by the two or three of us. When the transfer window is open, you should be prepared for almost anything. That’s part of the game, and as long as the season begins when the window is open, you must be prepared and capable of reacting. It is not perfect.
“If I were a teammate, I would not be. I will not be happy with the scenario. But that’s how things are. We must deal with it, and we will find a solution.
Thorup claimed he had never seen a player pull out on the eve of a match before. When questioned if he had received bad advice, Rowe replied, “I have no idea. It was his decision. It was his words. I respected him. That’s how things are. And as the coach, all I had to do was focus on players who were physically and mentally prepared to compete. That has been my main focus throughout the day. And, as I already stated, we will see tomorrow how we deal with it internally and what we do next.
“Of course this should not happen. What is vital for us is to develop the environment and the culture. And we should not have a culture in which such behavior is acceptable.”
Is there a way back for Rowe on Carrow Road? Thorup told the media, “There will always be, and it is simply an issue of behavior and how the players react to this. Of sure, this is an unacceptable condition, but you never know what will happen tomorrow.
“We may have a wonderful chat or a bad conversation; you never know. What’s crucial to me is that I look at this group and realize we need to develop a strong culture.
“We have to create a climate in which players want to perform for Norwich, wherever we play, because that is crucial, and we also need everyone to understand that a club cannot be run by too many players.
“Not ones with plans to leave during a game day. We need to create that culture. We need to create that environment. Because it must be even stronger. That’s where my attention is.
