Norwich City: Patience needed for £8.5m deal to deliver Josh Sargent 2.0 | OneFootball

Patience will be a virtue for Norwich City fans when it comes to summer signing Ante Crnac.

Patience will be a virtue for Norwich City fans when it comes to summer signing Ante Crnac.

The highly rated young Croatian joined the Canaries on a four-year deal reportedly worth £8.5 million from Rakow Częstochowa, a hefty price tag for a largely unproven player playing in the Polish League.

But City fans will remember a time when star man Josh Sargent wasn’t performing to the standard he’s set for himself in recent seasons, and just like with the American, Crnac is a player who will improve going forward.

Ante Crnac is already a danger man for the Canaries

It's clear that Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup rates the 20-year-old as an asset to the club having started him in nearly every game in the league since joining in late August.

In that time, Crnac netted his first goal for the Canaries in a 1-1 draw away to Stoke City. There is no doubt it was an important first step for him to get on the scoresheet for the first time in England.

In his post-match interview, Thorup said: "You want to see those moments of top class quality, and he showed that. He has the skill of getting into so many dangerous situations".

Crnac is a player who likes to get into dangerous positions playing on the right wing and has no qualms with taking players on one on one before putting it into the box or cutting in to have a crack at goal but has just lacked that final cutting edge so far this season.

Thorup has urged patience with the Croatian

As with much of the summer business, Thorup and Ben Knapper have clearly made a signing for the future with Crnac.

Both have said it will take time for the Croatia U21 international to adapt to English football and his new surroundings, but the signs of progress have already been starting to show the more he’s played.

“We have had better and better performances throughout his time here, and he will definitely be even better in the future," said Thorup, after the forward's maiden goal.

The positive results Norwich have garnered will also prove vital for Crnac’s confidence to play to his strengths going forward.

There was once a time after Josh Sargent first joined the Canaries that many Norwich fans questioned why he was brought in.

Sargent struggled in that first season in the Premier League, despite a memorable scorpion kick as part of a brace away to Watford.

But the American international has become one of the most important players for Norwich City in the last couple of seasons, improving year-on-year.

Already this season he’s assisted Crnac, though it's questionable whether being hit by the ball that then falls into the path of the goalscorer should be an assist.

Nonetheless, there’s plenty that the summer arrival can learn from Sargent. Like Crnac, in Sargent’s first season, he operated predominantly on the right.

For Rakow, Crnac was generally playing up top with a focus on the right-hand side. Thorup will still be working out how best to use his talents, but focusing on the right wing will surely add an extra dimension to his game down the line.

It could well be the case that Crnac is eyed to be the stand-in should Sargent make an exit from Carrow Road in the future, the way the latter slotted in up top following Teemu Pukki’s departure.

It's not to say that they are exactly the same style of player, Crnac being more of a tricky ball carrier compared to Sargent's more complete centre-forward role, but both have an eye for goal and the ability to cause problems for defenders.

For now, it will take time for Crnac to adapt to English football but it's worth remembering that he’s only 20 and experiencing Championship football for the first time.

If Norwich fans can afford patience with him, he’s sure to become a big player in the future just as Sargent has in recent years.