Norwich City head coach Philippe Clement revealed that United States striker Josh Sargent has been sent to play with the club’s under-21s following his refusal to take part in last weekend’s FA Cup match against Walsall.
Sargent’s decision to sit out the match came as Toronto FC have submitted an $18 million bid for the forward. A source with knowledge of the proposal said it could reach $20 million with bonuses.
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Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend’s English Championship match against Wrexham, Clement said: “Josh has been training with the under-21s, what he has done is not acceptable. We want to focus on the players available and get us out of the position we are in currently. There’s not much more to focus on now apart from Wrexham and getting results.”
Clement added, “You can only control the controllable. That can also happen with injuries. It happened when he had a concussion and other people stepped up and we got results. It depends on him.”
Sargent now has three children under the age of five and, according to sources, is keen to return to North America where he can be closer to family. He is also seeking to revive his prospects with the USMNT ahead of this summer’s World Cup and a move to Toronto could help accomplish that.
The 25-year-old hasn’t been called up since September and has lost ground to the likes of Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright.
Norwich and Toronto have been negotiating since December, but now it appears that the Canaries are holding out for an increased fee.
The fact that Norwich currently is in the relegation zone, just one point from safety behind Portsmouth, has also complicated matters. Clement insists he won’t allow Sargent to be transferred given the club’s precarious state.
“I’ve said that he’s not going to leave in this window. It’s not going to happen,” Clement said. “This club is in a relegation battle and you have a player with a two and a half year contract.”
He added” “There’s alignment from everybody in the club … there needs to be an amount that everybody agrees with that is big enough to do it in this situation now.”
Sargent scored 44 goals in the past three Championship seasons and has seven goals in 23 league appearances so far this campaign.
With the USMNT, he has five goals in 29 appearances but hasn’t scored for the national team since November 2019.
