Johannes Hoff Thorup revealed he spent more time discussing whether to throw Amankwah Forson in the deep end than Jon Rowe’s decision to sit out Norwich City’s opening day 2-0 Championship defeat at Oxford.

Forson capped a whirlwind few hours after completing a move from Austria on Friday to make his City debut in an encouraging second half display from the 21-year-old midfielder.

Rowe’s absence grabbed most of the headlines, after informing Thorup on Saturday morning he was not in the right frame of mind, amid transfer interest from Marseille.

But the City head coach preferred to focus on his fourth summer signing’s impact at the Kassam.

“Really, really pleased. Our biggest discussion of the day was actually if we should have brought him from the start,” said the Dane. “In the end, we decided it was maybe a little bit too early. We've had one session with the team, and he just arrived Thursday or Friday. So not much time being in England.

"We decided it was maybe a little bit too soon for him to come in, but it was good to see him. And I think it was obvious for everyone what he can bring to the team, and also his desire to come here and perform, and these are the players we need to build the squad.

“This project is a good story for us. And like I said a couple of times now, I don't know whether it's directly based on the story of Gabby (Sara), but, of course, when players see that we give chances to players they can reach the next level when they perform well here.

"So he could see that as well, and he wanted to come here. It was really a clear desire for him to come here.

“We had some very good talks. It was actually just a matter for us to get that deal done as quick as possible. Now he's here and I'm really pleased with that.”