Johannes Hoff Thorup has reiterated he wants Celtic transfer target Adam Idah to be part of his Norwich City pre-season plans.
Fresh reports surfaced on Monday night Idah has made his desire to return to Parkhead clear to City’s top brass.
But both Thorup and sporting director Ben Knapper, speaking at a fans’ forum held in Norwich earlier in the evening, talked up Idah’s importance to the Canaries ahead of the Championship kick-off.
The Republic of Ireland international is now back at Colney for pre-season testing, after winning a league and cup double with the Bhoys in a productive loan stint.
Celtic chief, Brendan Rodgers, refused to be drawn on the prospects of a summer reunion with Idah, when questioned prior to the weekend, but the position from his parent club remains unchanged.
The Glasgow giants are believed to have yet to match Norwich's valuation for a player with four years left on his Carrow Road contract.
Knapper told supporters in attendance the 23-year-old is an 'exciting' talent, and Thorup added he wants to run the rule over the forward in the upcoming friendlies.
“See it from another perspective,” said the Dane, speaking to the Pinkun afterwards. “Imagine that he was a striker in another club with his track record, with his history, academy background and so on. What would we say about him? We would say he is a quite an interesting striker, I would guarantee.
“It will be wrong for me to say that we cannot spend time on him, or we should not give him a fair chance as well. I hope that he will find that the way we do things now will also encourage him, and will also give him the feeling that, ‘Okay this is the right place for me’.
"That's the ambition for now, because I think he's a good player with some good qualities and it could definitely be a striker for us.
“For all the players here, it will be unfair for me to say that, from day one, I will just go and say, ‘Okay, we need this and this and this’. No, I have to give them a chance. We have to see.
"Sometimes players can surprise from initially we have the thought, ‘Okay, they will maybe not be good enough’, but then you can see in training and some pre-season games that they can take the steps. So I think it's fair for me to give them the chance.”