Will Jennings: Look beyond goals for Idah's impact for Norwich City

The Irish striker, who turned 22 last week, has netted just five league goals in 57 games after emerging as one of the club’s hottest academy prospects under Daniel Farke back in 2019.

An FA Cup hat-trick at Preston sparked optimism for the future, but Idah, who has also played 13 times for his country without scoring a goal, remains yet to establish himself as a serious first-team regular, having struggled for minutes behind the prolific Teemu Pukki and ever-dependable Josh Sargent.

Those statistics, coupled with Idah’s unorthodox nature and occasionally clunky movements, understandably prompted a divided reaction from the City community when he signed a new contract through until 2028 at the beginning of this month.

But scratch beneath the surface and consider beyond a cursory glance at his record, and the foundations are there for Idah to become a genuinely valuable asset for David Wagner’s ever-improving side.

Idah functioned as an indefatigable presence against Hull on Tuesday night, catapulted into the starting line-up owing to Pukki’s lack of "freshness" and repaying Wagner’s faith by helping steer City to a much-needed 3-1 win.

No, and as is often the case with Idah, there was no goal to reward his efforts and he may not be blessed with the ability of some of the club’s more technically-talented operators.

Adam Idah, rIght, celebrates after scoring against Reading in December - his only Championship goal of the season to date (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

But what he offers extends so far beyond his mere goals tally, with his ability to take City higher up the pitch and relentless work rate playing a pivotal role in the club’s return to winning ways.

Idah – and Sargent – were both magnificent under the Carrow Road lights, continually harassing the Tigers’ defence when out of possession throughout that thrilling, high-octane and full throttle second half.

Idah’s presence helped inject the ‘energy’ and ‘intensity’ Wagner was pining for after that Bristol City horror-show and, with three more winnable-looking games against Wigan, Birmingham and Cardiff now looming, it will be fascinating to see what the City boss does with his starting line-up as Pukki returns to full fitness.

There’s clearly a reason why the club – and broader coaching community – rate Idah so highly, a feeling not only delineated by his significant contract extension but also by Wagner's, and Dean Smith’s, telling comments about his ability and importance to City over the last few months.

Let’s not forget, this is a player who temporarily spearheaded a side that looked semi-capable of mounting a miraculous bid for top-flight survival, sparkling in victories against Watford and Everton before a long-term knee injury derailed his Premier League progress.

Of course, City’s alarmingly inadequate squad would never have stayed up regardless of Idah’s fitness – but the point remains he has demonstrated his ability to successfully lead the line on multiple occasions.

Criticism of Idah’s limitations in front of goal often feels harsh and wide of the mark, with the City hitman’s meagre tally of minutes rendering his nine senior strikes in yellow in green no figure to be ashamed of at all.

Idah has played just over 2,000 overall minutes across Premier League, Championship, FA Cup and Carabao Cup games since bursting onto the scene in 2019, largely restricted to a series of late cameos off the bench given Pukki’s remarkable consistency.

That total minutes tally equates to around just 23 full matches and, while his strike rate is still far from prolific, a haul of nine goals in that many games is actually reasonably respectable for a forward at this level.

Of course, Idah still has considerable areas of his game to improve on and is far from the finished article, with his first touch often letting him down and, as widely debated, his exploits in front of goal still failing to hit the heights of his attacking competitors.

But as one of the club’s most highly-rated young talents and with a long-term future ahead, it’s time to look beyond his basic record and acknowledge that Idah has the genuine tools required to emerge as a pivotal striking presence for several years to come.