Sydney van Hooijdonk might at first glance have appeared the biggest point of difference between the old and the new at Norwich City. But Liam Gibbs could well be a major beneficiary of a coaching sea change.

The Dutch striker had a disastrous loan stint that brought no starts and no goals before he returned to sender, and Champions League qualifiers Bologna.

On the small sample of evidence in a green and yellow shirt you would be hard pressed to find many City fans who expect to see him cut a dash through Europe’s most prestigious club competition next season.

David Wagner urged patience, and a need for van Hooijdonk to get up to speed upon his new year arrival, but both ran out of road before we could see why sporting director Ben Knapper sanctioned a move for the Serie A forward.

The Pink Un:

At Hillsborough in early April, when Josh Sargent departed just past the hour mark, Wagner turned not to van Hooijdonk but to Gibbs.

It was not the first time we had seen the 21-year-old deployed in such an advanced posting. But it proved short-lived after he suffered a thigh injury four minutes into his second half cameo which curtailed his season.

An entirely appropriate end to a campaign which failed to build on his encouraging debut tour. The baseline figures tell the story.

Four Championship starts compared to 16 the previous campaign. A total of 18 cameos from the bench.

Gibbs started last season as the club’s young player-of-the-year and with a new, improved Carrow Road contract. Hopes were high that in the former Ipswich academy prospect - polished in the Colney finishing school before Dean Smith and then Wagner gave him a first team chance - Norwich had a midfield player of real promise.

They still do. But under Wagner his progress stalled, and you could justifiably argue regressed.

No fixed position in midfield, no consistent run of games, no confidence to build upon his eyecatching breakthrough.

Such was his relative lowly status within Wagner’s talent pool, had the much-trailed January pursuit of Jonathan Varane borne dividends, Gibbs would have found himself loaned to a club scrapping at the wrong end of the Championship.

Varane stayed put in Spain, Gibbs stayed put in Norfolk and his career remained stuck in neutral, before an untimely injury on a miserable night in Sheffield.

Now under Johannes Hoff Thorup he will encounter a head coach who treats promoting youth as a given, not an optional extra, and who strives to ‘dominate matches’ through a mastery of midfield.

Study any of his showreel work at FC Nordsjælland and you see quick, incisive passing from dynamic midfielders who can move through the thirds, and crucially, decode pictures as they unfold around them.

One need only cling to Gibbs’ solitary senior league goal to see what is possible from a player placed in the right coaching hands; an instinctive burst from central midfield to get up in support of Sargent, and then a stunning rising finish, in a 2-0 away win at Blackburn over 12 months ago now.

Time has not been kind to Gibbs in the intervening period. But get himself fit, get himself in front of Thorup in pre-season, and Norwich possess a talent who can flourish within the right set-up.

Under Knapper’s guidance, and in the arrival of the 35-year-old Dane, Norwich appear to have renewed their vows to forge a clear pathway from the academy.

Under Daniel Farke and Stuart Webber previously perhaps financial necessity underpinned a similar organic approach.

With Thorup alongside Knapper it feels more philosophical, more attuned to building a culture and a clearer identity from the first team down, and rippling out to the fan base.

It maybe a touch melodramatic to state Gibbs lost his way last season.

For most young players that early career trajectory rarely runs smoothly, but armed with a more sobering experience than his debut season the 21-year-old should aim to make up for lost time, and convince Thorup he can be key part of his Carrow Road masterplan.