“Why do you like Jacob Sørensen so much?”

I’ve lost count of the amount of people who’ve asked me this question and immediately regretted it.

The latest casualty was a colleague who broached the subject at lunch: “what’s the matter with you, if she starts on that she’ll never stop,” came the quick reply by someone who’d heard the answer many times before.

One of the reasons it’s so long because it begins in July 2020. Lungi was announced as the first singing of the 2020/21 season in July as a transfer from Esbjerg fB, a club very much in his blood (aside from being in his hometown EfB is managed by Lars Sørensen – the original Lungi).

He was almost immediately beset by difficulties. Between a knee injury, a stomach bug, and a call-up to Denmark’s U21s that resulted in no minutes played, his debut didn’t come until October. It set the tone for his Norwich career.

It was his first time travelling with the squad to a team managed by a man who had attempted to sign him in the previous January window. He was asked to play left back, a new position, for a new team, in a new country, with less than five minutes notice.

He has since made more appearances for Norwich in this position than any other and was rewarded with a title win at the end of the season.

It has not been smooth sailing since. For a man once nicknamed “Mr Utensil” (we can only assume he was aiming for ‘utility’) by Dean Smith, seen as a player who can cover any position, he has only made 76 appearances for the club in three-and-a-half years. Lungi seems to have found himself stuck in a cycle.

He is struck by an injury that appears simple but leaves him side-lined for several months, plays out of position in a game that sees him pick up several plaudits, goes relatively unrecognised in the remainder of his matches, then picks up a new injury.

Yet he never seems bothered by it. It must be intensely frustrating to miss so much football, to be the one coaches turn to when their first (and typically second) choice options are unavailable.

His post-match interviews reveal his nature: Sørensen is equally reserved and careful with his words when discussing a pre-season friendly as he is dissecting a win in which he scored and assisted.

He is the epitome of not letting your highs get too high or your lows get too low. I’ve always seen him as the antithesis of modern football, and it’s perhaps not surprising that he was so close to Christoph Zimmermann (a player Lungi Sr once tried to recruit).

The Pink Un: Jacob Sorensen is mobbed by his team-mates after scoring in City's 5-0 win over Rotherham

There were times this season – and, truthfully, every season since he joined – that I believed Lungi would never play for the club again. His injuries seemed too severe, the players ahead of him too essential to the team.

Clearly, I need to learn that you can never count him out. He was instrumental in the destruction of Rotherham, coming away with a goal and an assist and having played a big role in Sara’s first effort and Sargent’s contribution late in the first half.

I’ll admit to being slightly nervous about his future.

His contract expires at the end of the season, and although the club do have an option of an extra year, will his injury record count against him?

Next season is uncertain, but Sørensen is used to uncertainty.

I’m sure he’ll face the next few months with his typically unflappable nature, although he did admit that the question of his next step is “in the back of the head on a daily basis.”

If he is willing to commit to another year at the club it seems an obvious decision – but then, as so many already know, I would say that.