Amankwah Forson’s Norwich City career has been hampered by injuries, but his return offers a boost for Philippe Clement as the season enters its final 11 games.
The Ghanaian came off the bench late in Sunday’s 3-0 FA Cup defeat to Leeds, making his first appearance since December after picking up a hamstring injury in the Canaries’ draw at Preston that sidelined him for almost three months.
Following his late heroics against Coventry last season, the midfielder’s momentum was quickly halted by a knee injury that sidelined him for two months, only returning for the final games. This season has followed a similar pattern, with a hamstring injury against Millwall on the opening day ruling him out for another two months before he returned for Liam Manning’s final three games in charge.
Forson then featured in all of Clement’s first seven games at the helm, including scoring the third goal in the home victory against QPR, before his most recent hamstring injury again halted his progress.
The 23-year-old returned to team training in mid-February, but his return to action has been a gradual process, with City’s head coach emphasising the need to build “robustness” across the squad after an injury-hit spell over the past couple of seasons.
Norwich currently have 13 players sidelined through injury, so Forson providing another option is a timely boost, but Clement was keen to point out that the former Salzburg man still has work to do.
“Yes, but he needs to work hard to get to the good level,” Clement said.
“You saw also Paris (Maghoma) today; he needs to work to get to this level and to get more minutes. So, yeah, a lot of good lessons, I think, to keep everybody humble in the building.
“I don’t feel that was necessary. I feel the group is working really hard, but in three months we cannot change everything, and that’s not possible. I said before the game, it’s a good test to see where we are.
“I think 3-0 is too hard a lesson for that, but for sure players felt in moments, I need to work hard to get to this level, so that’s helpful for the coaching staff also.”
