Confirmed: New Josh Sargent, Norwich City update emerges from Thorup | OneFootball

The forward suffered a groin injury that is going to keep him out for a while.

Josh Sargent has had surgery on his groin after picking up the injury that will keep him out for eight weeks, Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup has confirmed.

After a good few weeks when it felt like they were flying, the Canaries have been well and truly grounded by the number of injuries that they have suffered.

In their last two games, respective 2-1 and 2-0 losses to Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday, Norwich have fielded very unusual starting 11's, in comparison to what they would do if they had all of their players fit.

Even the likes of teenage midfielder Gabriel Forsyth, who stepped in against the Bluebirds for his first ever Championship start, has been bitten by the injury bug that is ravaging Norwich.

The biggest of all the fitness blows that they are currently having to deal with is the one suffered by Sargent. The American forward is prone to sustaining these muscular blows, but his most recent one - a groin injury - couldn't have been suffered at much worse of a time. The only positive is that Borja Sainz has really upped his goalscoring this season.

City boss Thorup confirmed ahead of the Wednesday game that Sargent's injury was going to require surgery, and that he would be out for eight weeks because of it. Hoff Thorup has now provided a new update on the striker's health.

Norwich City: Johannes Hoff Thorup provides Josh Sargent injury update

The 24-year-old American international had surgery on his groin earlier in the week, the Norwich boss confirmed, and he is now on the start of his road to recovery, again.

"He has had the surgery now," said Hoff Thorup when speaking to the media ahead of his side's contest against Bristol City this weekend.

"It will be probably eight weeks from the surgery, which was Monday or Tuesday.

"Now it's just about rehab and nice and easy getting back in."

Sargent was originally expected to be out until just after the upcoming international break (around three or four weeks), but a return right around the new year is the fresh reality.

The Dane was also able to give an update on Forsyth's fitness too. He revealed ahead of the trip to Hillsborough that the teenage midfielder was going to miss the Wednesday game due to a knee problem that he picked up in the second half against Cardiff. Forsyth is now set to be out for five-to-six weeks.

"No surgery required," said the manager on the midfielder's injury. "It will be five or six weeks, he extended something in his knee a little bit."

Norwich City squad may struggle for consistency until the end of 2024

In a few weeks' time, the schedule is going to ramp up. Having a lot of injuries during that December fixture list is something that all managers dread.

Between Norwich's return from the international break on November 23 and the end of 2024, they are set to play nine league games.

The Canaries haven't dropped too far down the table during their last six games, in which they have only picked up four points, but they are now just three points above the relegation zone despite being 12th.

Equally, they are only four points off the top six, which proves just how congested the middle of the Championship is right now.

They aren't likely to have a lot of their key players back fit again for the majority of that end of year run, and they are at real risk of dropping quite significantly down the table if Hoff Thorup can't find some sort of functioning formula with the limited tools available to him.

There's also the risk of further injuries. If the majority of players have to be used for 90 minutes per game a few times a week, then their risk of getting hurt will go up.

It's a really tough spot that Norwich are in, but one they are just going to have to deal with.