Philippe Clement admitted Ali Ahmed’s knee injury is the latest cruel blow in a challenging pre-season for Norwich City.
The Canaries’ head coach fears Ahmed could be sidelined ‘for a while’ pending the results of scans, after Lucien Mahovo, Jovon Makama and Kellen Fisher were already ruled out of the Championship kick-off.
Ante Crnac and Papa Amadou Diallo have yet to feature in pre-season friendlies, following injury-hit previous campaigns, while Pelle Mattsson sat out Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Osasuna as a precaution following an injection in a hip-related issue.
Clement’s most pressing fitness concern is the extent of Canadian international Ahmed’s lay-off
“He felt something in his knee,” he said. “It’s never good, of course, and everybody’s a little bit devastated after that.
“You saw it on the pitch also, and that’s normal because it comes falling out of the sky as a knock on all the team in that moment.
“But we need to accept it and see now the next couple of days what’s the case, but it doesn’t look good.
“It’s hard because it’s a guy that everybody loves because of his energy and positivity. So we will need to be there also to support him, because I think he’s going to be out for a while.
“These are not only team mates; it’s really a family together. The players are so united.
“That’s why it has also more effect.
“Ali came back really well after his break after the World Cup, had a full training week, felt really good, started the game also really well and dad almost a good assist there in his first five minutes of the game, and that that happens.
“So it’s hard for him, and it’s hard for everybody.”
Clement was at pains to stress Ahmed’s painful exit, as he tried to contort his body to control a long diagonal pass, was another to file in the same category as City’s other injuries this summer.
“All of those other ones were contact injuries, so you cannot avoid that for sure,” he said. “Lucien, Kell, Jove. That is part of football. We’ve been unlucky these last few weeks with that, but we’re not also the only team who have those things.
“We need to continue doing what we all did really well last season, and to focus on the guys who are fit.
“We showed also good things in pre-season and we need to continue building with that, and then to get the injured players back in the best way that that we can get more competition again.
“And this one with Ali the same, it’s not soft tissue things.
“It’s things that happen in football, but it doesn’t mean that at the moment it’s not a knock for everybody.”