Norwich manager Johannes Hoff Thorup has responded to reports that Liverpool are considering recalling loanee Kaide Gordon in January, ultimately leaving the decision with the player.
Since heading out on loan to Norwich in the summer, Gordon has made just one Championship start for the Canaries.
This lack of game time has led to planned talks over a potential January recall for the 20-year-old winger, according to Paul Gorst of the Liverpool Echo.
Norwich boss Thorup has now responded to the report, explaining why he wouldn’t want to send him back to Merseyside.
The Dane told media including the Pink Un: “The ideal scenario was that he was in the starting line-up every weekend. That is not the situation at the moment.
“We try to develop him, improve him, have talks with him and treat him like one of the others as we are, of course, supposed to do. We will keep doing that.
“I don’t think I will consider now whether he should go back in January because I see such a busy schedule, so I can easily see that he could make his way into the team again if he’s training well and doing his stuff like he’s supposed to do, then there is a way in for him.
“At the end, it is also up to him in his career what his next step should be. If he wants to stay here and fight, I would be more than happy about it because we need good players, and he is definitely a good player.”
The manager went on to give some explanation as to why the winger isn’t getting into the starting XI, saying: “He’s struggling to get into the team with all it takes physically and especially tactically.
“As a football team, we need more than 20 players to create the competition that we want to have. It’s a natural thing, and for the moment, he is out of the team because I prioritise some of the others.”
Norwich currently sit 12th in the Championship, eight points off the play-off spots and without a win in their last three outings.
Having been left out of the previous three matchday squads, Gordon came on as a late substitute in Norwich‘s most recent match – a 2-1 home defeat to Burnley.
Manager Thorup spoke about how he picks his team and why Gordon’s absences aren’t necessarily a message that he won’t play a part bigger part, should he stay beyond January.
“It can change,” the coach added.
“What I do is select the 20 players that I think are the best ones for the game that we have to win. I will do that every day and every time.
“What it means is if you are out of that team, then it’s a decision from me that I think some of the other guys are better suited for that game week.
“It can change, and it can change in a league where there are so many games, and we go into a period where we play with only three or four games, rest in between, sometimes even less than that.
“It is always my words to the players that are not in the team to do the same every day they meet in they have to keep the same high standards no matter if you play or not. That’s the only thing that you can do.”
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