Ante Crnac will be a ‘very good striker’ for Norwich City but Johannes Hoff Thorup wants him to deliver now.

The 20-year-old has led the line for three of the past four Championship games in the absence of injured talisman Josh Sargent.

Crnac has failed to muster a shot on target in a central role after previously opening his account at Stoke City following his big-money move from Poland.

The Croatian Under-21 international looks set to continue on Tuesday night against Plymouth.

“We need to see more from him,” said Thorup, speaking at Colney on Monday afternoon. “But I also see what has been highlighted, that he is a young man, and I have said it a few times now but I get the sense fans understand that it is a different profile of player that we bring into the club now.

"If we bring in a 30-year-old striker, we can expect that from day one he will go in and impact the game and be a top striker for us.

“But when we bring in a player from another country at a young age we cannot expect it immediately, but still, we can have expectations. It's about finding that balance, because I need more from him.

"And we also made it quite clear to him here the previous weeks that there's something about his movements, his timing, that can be better to arrive in better situations. We've had some meetings with him to highlight that.

“The coaching group is working really, really hard to make sure that all of these players, especially the young ones, are integrated as best as possible, and we give them clear feedback.

"I think the positive side against West Brom was that he ended up in more of those situations. He had a big chance where he should score in the first half and another one in the second half where he maybe gets a touch to the ball that Kellen Fisher crosses, which is also a big chance, but he's in a really, really good position.

“That's the first thing we can do. Now, of course, we need end product, and that's not something where we just close our eyes and hope it will come. We make it very, very clear to him that we expect that it will come.

"We need some goals from him. We need some assists. We need some presence also from him. But I think West Brom was a step in the right direction, even though it was not perfect.”

Crnac’s Potters’ striker underlined his technical ability and finishing instincts with a controlled half-volley at the back post.

“He has a good left foot. I like it when he goes from outside to in, and can just reverse it a little bit or go for the second post,” said Thorup. “I liked his finish in Stoke. I think he had several opportunities also in the games where he came from the right side.

"Now it's a little bit different position for him and maybe it requires more first touch finishing, which he needs to develop and improve. But his movements were better against West Brom.

“Also his headers needs to be a big threat when you look at him, that's also something we have to improve. I have a big belief in him, and I think he will be a very, very good striker for the club.

"And I believe that in the future we will look back at this time and say, ‘Okay, that was a start for him, where he needed to integrate and find the rhythm and get experience in the league’. But I also really, really hope, and believe, in some months we will see an even better striker really deciding the games for us.”