At a time when most teams will be dreading losing players to injury whilst on international duty, Norwich City have been given a squad boost over the break.
The Canaries have been rocked over recent weeks with unfortunate news, the most prominent being the confirmation of Josh Sargent would require surgery on his groin. For their game against Cardiff City, Johaness Hoff Thorup only had 16 players at his disposal.
Hernandez Makes Overdue Return
Cuban international Onel Hernandez has been missing since September where he last played against Norwich, being forced off with a hamstring injury. He had been called up by the Caribbean nation for this set of fixtures, but had not been expected to feature.
However he was selected to start against St Kitts and Nevis and played the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 loss for Cuba.
His return, combined with former Burnley striker Ashley Barnes coming ever closer to full fitness will hand the Danish manager some crucial options to fill the void left by the blow to Sargent.
Hernandez has played for eight seasons in Norfolk since joining from Eintracht Braunschweig and has also had loans at Birmingham City and Middlesbrough during his time at the club.
Thorup has previously spoken about the contribution the 31-year-old and Barnes can have when they return, telling the Pink ‘Un:
“I cross my fingers that the guys out now will be back soon again so they can support us, because up front, obviously Josh is out and I think Emiliano did what he could, but a guy like Ashley Barnes will also come back into the group, hopefully soon, so he can give us another option.
“We’ve also seen Onel playing as a nine for us this season, so that could also be an option. But of course, the first priority is to get these boys back.”
Writer’s View
This will be welcome news for Norwich City as it opens up another option for them to support the attack until Josh Sargent returns in 2025. Hernandez managed to last the full 90 minutes without a scratch and it would be safe to assume he will be involved again when Cuba play St Kitts and Nevis again later this week. The main concern will be if his country have rushed him back too soon which could cause other problems and could set him back.
1st Class Honours in Multimedia Journalism at Salford University. Writing mainly about League Two.
