Thorup on Abu Kamara’s status with the Canaries.

Abu Kamara has the potential to break into Norwich City’s Championship starting lineup under head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup.

The exciting wide player, who played in Portsmouth’s League One title win on loan last season, has made two late league appearances from the bench under the Dane.

Kamara is attracting transfer interest from both home and abroad this summer, with the 21-year-old in the final year of his current contract, though the Canaries have an additional one-year option.

Thorup, however, believes the winger has the talent to replace Gabe Forsyth in his starting lineup, as Kamara scored his first senior goal for the club in the recent League Cup victory over Stevenage.

“He can definitely contribute,” said the City Manager. “Not just with his quick feet up front and his good finishing ability but we also saw with another of the goals in that game how he is improving, in terms of his link up play with other players.

“What we as a coaching team needs to make sure of is that we create a pathway for some of these younger guys, because there’s potential, but we also have to respect that it will not be perfect, and it’ll not be from day one that we can sit back and say, ‘Okay, it was just exactly how we wanted’. There will be ups and downs.”

Thorup was involved in the signing of new contracts for Scottish teenager Forsyth and centre back Brad Hills, which were announced last week.

“It’s good players we want to work with here,” he stated. “I hope that everyone can see that maybe they are not 100pc ready for the team, but they are about to be ready, and they need the support, they need the respect so they can develop and they can get the minutes they need.

“And hopefully in the future, whether that’s in six months or 12 months, or whatever, they need to be potential starters for the club.

“We should celebrate when we have academy players (Adam Idah) leaving the building for a fee that we can all see is a good fee, and they’re ready to take the next step.

“That should be a good day for us, because it gives us the possibilities to invest in the group again, and to invest in more future players so we can see more and more of our young players.

“And some of these I talk about here right now are Brad Hills and Gabe Forsyth. I was very delighted that we could reach an agreement with both, because they are the future of this team.”

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