Josh Sargent: Norwich City star striker on fire in the Championship

Josh Sargent has been on fire ever since he returned for Norwich City in December from an ankle injury that he suffered against Huddersfield (4-0) at the end of August. With his ankle requiring surgery, the 24-year-old US men’s national team striker was out for four months before returning to the field at the end of December. 

Remarkably, Sargent’s injury seemed to have done nothing to slow down his goalscoring prowess. The O’Fallon, Missouri native started the season with three goals and one assist. Indeed, Sargent actually scored against Huddersfield before limping off with an injury in the 14th minute. Sargent came off the bench in the 81st minute on Dec. 29 to mark his Championship return against Millwall (0-1). The defeat against Millwall has been just one of three games in which Sargent hasn’t scored since returning from his ankle injury. 

"Josh Sargent has been in scintillating form since returning from a four-month injury lay-off with Norwich City,” UK content manager Euan Robertson said. “The American international has netted seven goals in 10 appearances to reignite Norwich's hopes of a playoff place after a stuttering season. Sargent is still managing his injury, but he's integral to Norwich's prospects, and his goals per-minute ratio is frightening.”

A goal every 80 minutes – Sargent on fire for Norwich City 

How good has Sargent been for Norwich? Heading into Saturday’s match against Blackburn, Sargent has scored every 80 minutes in the Championship this season. Indeed, with Sargent back in the lineup, Norwich City have closed the gap to the Championship playoff spots. Norwich City are sixth in the form table since Sargent returned to the squad and more importantly, are not too far off the pace of top sides like Leicester, who have collected just two points more to sit in second place during the same time span. 

Sargent, in the meantime, has shot up the Championship goalscoring chart. Together with six other players, Sargent is currently seventh in Championship goalscoring (overview). But Sargent just needed 13 games to get there, and his rate of 80 minutes per goal ranks him ahead of Jamie Vardy (every 103) among all Championship players who have scored at least ten goals this season. On top of that, Sargent also ranks first with 0.77 goals per game among all players in the Championship, who have scored at least ten goals this season.

With all that in mind, it now appears that Sargent is finally fulfilling the promise placed in him when he arrived from Werder Bremen in 2021. “Sargent initially struggled to adapt to the demands of English football and playing in the Premier League, but he's beginning to deliver on his potential, and his prolific record will attract attention from bigger clubs," Robertson said. Norwich City are currently three points off a playoff spot, and promotion remains a long shot. But if Sargent keeps his goalscoring rate up, it will only be a matter of time before big Premier League clubs make the call to his agency, Wasserman to try to lure the American to the top flight.