"Lost the respect" - Norwich City: Jon Rowe criticised as Marseille transfer move starts to falter | OneFootball

Jon Rowe has struggled to make an impact at Marseille since he left the Canaries

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Tricky winger Jon Rowe's outstanding Norwich City form last season saw him earn a move to Ligue 1 side Olympique de Marseille in the summer window, but his switch to the French giants has not quite gone to plan so far.

Rowe was a product of the Canaries' youth setup, and made his debut for his boyhood club in the Premier League in 2021 after he had signed his first professional contract earlier that year.

He suffered an injury-hit first full senior season at Carrow Road, but then fully broke through into David Wagner's team at the start of last season and went on to win numerous individual awards while firing Norwich to a top six finish with 13 goals and three assists in 38 games in all competitions.

The England under-21 international was the subject of major transfer interest throughout last summer, as a result, but his time in East Anglia came to a messy end in August as boss Johannes Hoff Thorup revealed that he had refused to play ahead of his move to Marseille, which was then confirmed later in the window as an initial season-long loan with a reported obligation to buy for £17 million.

Norwich City

Rowe got off to a dream start with the Phocaeans, as he bagged an added-time winner in the Derby des Olympiques against Lyon on September 22 in just his fourth appearance for the club, but he has struggled to hit similar heights since that dream early moment.

The 21-year-old has not been handed a starting berth in either Ligue 1 or the Coupe de France since an early November clash against Angers, and has played just 97 minutes from the bench in the club's last nine outings, leading to many questions around his future at Marseille and whether he made the right decision to leave the Canaries last summer.

Our Norwich fan pundit, Zeke Downes, believes that, in hindsight, Rowe should have stayed at the club for another year, but the move could not be begrudged, and if anything, the biggest sticking point for Canaries supporters was the way he left the club rather than who he went to.

“It’s hard to say whether I think Jon Rowe made a mistake by leaving Norwich, because it could easily have gone really well," Zeke told FLW.

“It’s always a hindsight thing, and at the time I thought it was a really good move. I didn’t like how he left, but you’d imagine most of our players would have said yes to moving to Marseille.

“I didn’t think at the time that it was a bad move, but obviously looking back, he’s now not really getting any game-time, they don’t want him, and he could maybe have stayed here for another year.

“That would have worked out really well, I’d imagine, because we’d have had him on one side and Borja Sainz on the other side.

“He’s now lost the respect of a lot of our fans. I’m not bothered personally, but I know a lot of people don’t like what he did.

“Looking back now, it can be seen as a bad thing, but at the time, I did get why he did it.”

Jon Rowe has already been mooted for a Marseille exit

Unfortunately for Rowe, such an important goal being scored so early in his time at Marseille has probably worked against him as the campaign has gone on, as he has been unable to reach those heights once again over the last five months despite being expected to kick on under Roberto De Zerbi.

He scored the opener in a 1-1 draw against Angers two weeks after his first goal, then followed that up with assists in wins against Montpellier and Nantes. That latter contribution on November 3 was, however, his last in the league for the club up to now.

In a pretty dramatic turn of events, just mere months after his big move to the continent, GFFN, via L'Equipe, reported in January that Rowe had lost credit in the eyes of boss De Zerbi, and Marseille were sounding out the market in order to find a new destination for the former Norwich winger, even though their obligation doesn't kick in until the summer.

Rowe has remained at the Stade Velodrome past the winter window though, and now looks set to stay at the club for the duration of the campaign, but will likely see out the season as an option from the bench.

Whether he will be able to force his way back into his plans for the rest of the season remains to be seen, but it does look unlikely, as the Phocaeans boss has started to play with wing-backs in a 3-4-1-2 formation with his team impressing in second place, which does not suit Rowe's attributes or positional traits.

His future in the south-east of France looks pretty uncertain past the summer, as it stands, and while it did seem like a good move that would progress his career, he may well regret leaving Norwich so soon given what has transpired over the last few months.