Norwich City may be sweating on £6.9m investment - Josh Sargent stay may not have helped | OneFootball

Mathias Kvistgaarden is yet to register a goal contribution after statement signing

Norwich City may just be starting to sweat on their decision to invest £6.9 million in Danish forward Mathias Kvistgaarden this summer.

The 23-year-old, who arrived from Brondby IF with a glittering reputation, is still searching for his first goal contribution after five Championship appearances.

Kvistgaarden was signed to much fanfare, penning a four-year deal with an option for a further year.

The Canaries had beaten off competition from clubs across Europe for his signature, with sporting director Ben Knapper hailing him as a “wonderfully talented, versatile attacking player” whose movement and energy would endear him to supporters.

The statistics from his final season in Denmark suggested Norwich had acquired a prolific talent: 23 goals and seven assists in 38 games, a place in the Danish Superliga team of the season, and a first senior international cap in June 2025.

For a club whose stated aim is promotion back to the Premier League, the hope was that Kvistgaarden would help fire them towards the top two.

Mathias Kvistgaarden’s slow start at Norwich City raises early questions

Five matches into the season, however, there is still no end product to show for that significant outlay.

Although some flashes of promise were evident during last weekend’s 2-0 win away at Blackburn Rovers, the forward was withdrawn early in the second half as manager Liam Manning sought to consolidate his side’s advantage.

Part of the challenge for Kvistgaarden may be that Josh Sargent, Norwich’s established talisman, remains at Carrow Road.

Many expected the American striker to depart during the summer transfer window, potentially opening the door for the Dane to become the focal point of Norwich’s attack.

Instead, Sargent stayed, and Manning has been tasked with building a strike partnership rather than replacing a departing star.

Saturday’s victory at Ewood Park marked the first time the pair were named in the starting XI together. Manning was encouraged by their early link-up play, noting that Kvistgaarden’s willingness to run beyond defenders created space for Sargent to drop into deeper positions.

There were moments of genuine threat, most notably when the Dane rose at the back post to nod Jakov Medic’s diagonal ball into Sargent’s path, forcing a deflected effort over the crossbar.

Waiting game for Norwich City if Josh Sargent and Mathias Kvistgaarden strike partnership develops

Patience will be required as the duo learn to complement each other. Kvistgaarden’s disrupted summer - featuring in Denmark Under-21 duty and a move abroad - has left him still searching for peak match fitness.

“Those connections with Mathias will take a little bit of time,” Manning admitted after the game.

“The minutes will be massive for him, and the experience and confidence that he can take. Hopefully we can keep building that.”

For Norwich, the hope will be that building confidence leads to building goal returns.

Sargent has carried the goalscoring burden almost single-handedly for the past two seasons, and while the Canaries have enjoyed sporadic contributions from wide players such as Borja Sainz, another genuine second source of goals is essential if they are to mount a serious promotion challenge.

There are, then, reasons for cautious optimism, but also a nagging sense that a £6.9 million signing ought to be delivering more, more quickly.

If Kvistgaarden can translate his pedigree into consistent output, the ‘Josh and Mathias’ double act could yet become one of the Championship’s most potent partnerships.