Jonathan Rowe surprisingly omitted himself from Norwich City’s opening-day clash with Oxford United and is now training with the club’s U21s for the foreseeable future.
The winger has been the subject of interest this summer and made a shock decision just hours before the Championship outfit began their 2024/25 season.
Rowe was one of Norwich’s key players last campaign
21-year-old, Jonathan Rowe, set the Championship alight last season in his first full campaign as a starter for Norwich City.
The Canaries started slow in last season but stuck by American manager, David Wagner, who saw Rowe as a key part of his squad.
The winger who has an eye for goal, made thirty-four Championship appearances last season, netting 13 goals and setting up a further two, with the highlight of the forward season being a brace away to bitter rivals, Ipswich, to snatch a point.
Such an impressive season however was always going to mean that Norwich fought with their hands to keep their promising forward.
Marseille and Leeds are battling it out for Rowe
Major interest emerged from Championship title-chasers, Leeds United, back on the 5th of August as The Whites saw a £7 million bid for the winger rejected as they attempt to fill the void that Crysenio Summerville has left following the Dutchman’s departure to West Ham United, according to the Telegraph.
Fabrizio Romano then revealed on the eve of Norwich’s opening Championship game away to Oxford United, that Marseille had sent a formal bid to Rowe with talks taking place between both the player and club.
Rowe was subsequently absent from new manager, Johannes Hoff Thorup’s first team selection although reports claim that Norwich have held firm on their valuation of £15 million, more than double Leeds United’s opening offer, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Rowe has since been exiled from the Norwich City first-team
Following Jonathan Rowe’s shock decision to remove himself from selection against Oxford United, citing the fact that he wasn’t in the right frame of mind following rumoured bids, Norwich has sent the player to train with the reserves.
The saga is now set to take another twist with PinkUn revealing that following Marseille and Leeds United’s first bid, Norwich are yet to receive any other interest in the forward, leaving his future uncertain.
Norwich will face Stevenage at home in the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening but Rowe is now expected to not be part of the squad following his omission from the first-team completely.
Norwich’s new manager has been open about Rowe’s behaviour
Johannes Hoff Thorup has been honest about Rowe’s future after facing questions after the club’s opening day loss, stating:
“There will always be (a way back), and it’s just a matter of behaviour and how the players respond to this.
“Of course, it’s a situation that should not happen, but you can never know what happens on Sunday”. (PinkUn)
Those conversations appear to have now gone as well as both parties may have hoped, leading to the recent news of Rowe’s exile from Thorup’s selection.
Thorup continued to be clear after the loss to Oxford United, explaining:
“We have to build an environment based on players that have the desire to perform for Norwich, wherever we play, because that’s important, and also for everyone around to respect that it is important that a club cannot be run by too many players.
“Not ones where they have ambitions to go somewhere else in the middle of a game day. We have to build that culture. We have to build that environment. Because it needs to be even stronger. That’s where my focus is”.