Norwich City: What Philippe Clement said about Barcelona’s move for Ajay Tavares | OneFootball

Philippe Clement has responded to the rumours of Ajay Tavares' proposed switch to FC Barcelona

Philippe Clement has responded to the rumours of Ajay Tavares' departure to FC Barcelona from Norwich City, with the Belgian reluctant to see the young starlet leave the club.

It has not been a season to remember fondly so far for Norwich City.

The Canaries currently occupy 23rd place, just shy of the halfway stage of the season, with a huge portion of the blame for that damning position being directed towards former boss Liam Manning, who was replaced by Belgian head coach Clement last month.

With just one defeat in their last six, their form has seen an upturn, so the news of FC Barcelona making a move for their 15-year-old starlet Ajay Tavares will come as an unwelcome blow.

As reported by Spanish journalist Ferran Martinez via X, Barcelona are looking primed to sign Tavares, who holds a Portuguese passport, allowing him to make a move abroad despite his early age.

In the wake of the potential move, Clement has responded to the links.

Philippe Clement is reluctant to see Ajay Tavares leave Norwich City

Tavares, who had featured for the first team during pre-season, has yet to make a matchday squad this season, and now looks unlikely to. With Norwich's poor form, it may be viewed as too big a risk to chuck the teenager into the first team at this stage, with that decision potentially coming back to bite them.

With the news of Tavares' potential departure, head coach Clement said: "I know him, of course, and it is maybe something we didn't discuss yet, but Ryan (Garry), my assistant, will be the bridge towards the academy. It's a very important role.

"I always give this responsibility to somebody in the staff. I did that role also before in Bruges, so I know how important it is, so I get to know the talents also much faster.

"A lot of young players are now training regularly with the first team. Ajay is a very interesting one on that list, and I know also that he played in the training camp in the summer with the first team, and he did good stuff there. He's very young. He's still very young.

"But, of course, we want to keep our best talents, because that's one of the important things for the future and the things we discussed with the owners that they want also players out of our academy to grow and to go in the first team.

"Norwich has a good reputation about that, maybe less recently. And it's also something I love to do, and I've always been engaged with in all my clubs. So of course we want to keep Ajay."

Norwich are only able to sign players on professional deals upon turning 17, meaning Tavares, who doesn't turn 16 until later this month, would have to wait another year to sign a professional deal at Carrow Road.

At Barcelona, the likely option for him would be to go into the Under-19's setup before making the step-up to Barcelona B in the coming years ahead of a potential loan move.

It's clear that whilst Tavares' development, like every other young player, needs to be managed, he cannot be thrown into the first team for the sake of it.

Clement would clearly love to keep him at the club and help him to develop in Norfolk, but they are almost powerless to resist the approach from the Spanish giants, much to his frustration.

Indeed, the loss of Tavares would prove to be a huge blow for Norwich, despite him yet to make a senior appearance.

There remains a huge consensus that the England youth international is one of the brightest prospects in the country, and to lose him at such an early age without even getting the chance to see what he is made of will be hugely disappointing for the Canaries.

The likes of Max Aarons, Todd Cantwell, Jonathan Rowe, Anis Mehmeti, Jacob Murphy, and Carlton Morris have all come through the Norwich conveyor belt in recent years, with Tavares looking to be the next big thing.

Each of the aforementioned players never had the chance to show their best at Norwich, aside from potentially Cantwell, and Clement will be left frustrated by the saga, to say the least.

Clement's main focus will be to get the Canaries out of the immediate danger of relegation, and with just over half of the season remaining, you would still back him to do so, even with the imminent blow of losing Tavares.