Emiliano Marcondes will be worth the wait, insists Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup.

City made a move for the free agent, who made a late debut from the bench in Saturday’s 4-0 Championship home win over Hull, with the likes of attacking options Ashley Barnes, Onel Hernandez, Liam Gibbs and Christian Fassnacht all sidelined.

Marcondes had not kicked a ball competitively since May 2024, but brings top flight experience with Brentford and Bournemouth, and a grounding at Thorup’s old club FC Nordsjaelland.

“It will take time. Fortunately, he's aware of how we want to play. So that part will hopefully not take too long,” said the City chief, who worked with Marcondes most recently during a loan stint in Denmark in 2023. “But to get into the flow, get into the rhythm, to have continuous training sessions one after each other, and also games and so on, will take some time.

"But as I hope everyone could see, he just gives us something. (Hull) was 20 minutes, or 15 minutes, but I think it was enough for him to show what a player he is, and what he can do for the team, and if that would be the case for the next month, where he can play maybe 25 or 30 or 45 minutes, that's also okay.”

Marcondes can operate in a number of attacking positions, and underlined his versatility when he replaced star striker Josh Sargent in the closing stages against the Tigers.

Sargent has been an ever-present leading the line in the Championship, with Barnes yet to feature this season, and Adam Idah sold to Celtic.

The US forward is clocking up more miles over the latest international period, as part of new national boss Mauricio Pochettino’s first squad.

“We knew that Josh, he was not struggling, but he was tired, and he would not be able to play 90 minutes against Hull,” said Thorup. “So for us to have that option from the bench, to put in Emiliano who could stretch them up front and can create some of these moments a little bit out of nothing, we knew that can be important for us."