Imps linked with 18-y/o Premier League prospect

I’ve seen a few reports linking us with a move for Norwich City’s Eire youngster Adam Idah, so I thought I’d have a look at him and see what he might offer.

Idah is a hot prospect and a player of which a lot is expected. I’ll confess, I hadn’t heard of him until my DM’s started coming alive and that prompted me to do a bit of digging. He’s been linked with us on a couple of the agent/hub sites, one of which uses plenty of exclamation marks which worries me, but we’ll move past that for now.

He’s a teammate of Zak Elbouzedi and has been rated as one of the five Irish youngsters to watch this year. Elbouzedi was ranked as fifth on the list, Idah was numero uno.

He became a part of the Norwich City first team this season, making his first senior appearance in the League Cup against Crawley in September. It’s believed he’s highly rated by Canaries manager Daniel Farke and any move out of Norfolk would only be temporary. Why would we be interested though?

Well, his performances at U21 level for Eire, alongside our new boy Elbouzedi, have seen him score five goals in 11 games. He’s been involved in the Ireland setup since Under 16 level, scoring 14 in 22 for the Under 17s and progressing steadily through the ranks.

Pundit Arena claim that if he can secure himself a loan move in 2020, it could be a massive year for him. The rumours are that the loan move he’s linked with is here, to Lincoln City, attracted by Michael Appleton’s superb coaching record.

Interestingly, the same article says of our other new boy: “Elbouzedi impressed last season at Waterford in the League of Ireland and has continually improved under Stephen Kenny with the Irish U21s, grabbing two goals in their last two victories and looking like a real leader in the side.

“Moving to a new club in January is never easy but Elbouzedi has the talent to hit the ground running at Sincil Bank and really make an impression on his return to English football.

“The 20-year-old will no doubt benefit from a full season of senior football at the RSC last year and could see 2020 as a breakout year.”

Back to Idah, he’s a towering presence at 6ft 3in tall, but has a host of other exciting qualities which mark him out as a top loan signing. His outings for Eire have been described as ‘dominant’, leading the line against Sweden last month and earning rave reviews. He’s classed as a ‘well rounded’ striker, with physical strength but also the flair and pace to run in behind.

He signed a new deal with Norwich in the summer and is now contracted to them until 2023. On joining up with their first team, he said; “I’ve loved every minute here so I’m delighted. My form last season was great and I’ve worked very hard to get myself to where I am now. I’m delighted to be in the position I am now. Last year helped me a lot to get me to this position.

“There are lots of people who have helped me. The staff have been great to me and even through the tougher times, they’ve helped me through it.”

He did confess stepping up to the first team, which is where he’s been training all year, was an eye-opener.

“It’s been tough, I won’t lie,” he added. “But I think I’m slowly getting used to things now as it’s already been three days. Wednesday was my first day on the pitch and it was tough but I’ve been enjoying it.”

If the rumours and ITK posts are correct, then we might be seeing the fruits of Michael Appleton’s contacts with this exciting centre forward coming to Sincil Bank. Perhaps.

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