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It says much about the enigmatic career to date of Todd Cantwell that his January ended with a loan move to Championship promotion hopefuls Bournemouth.

The Norwich City academy product was as good as any player at the club during their worst season on record and the resulting Premier League relegation of 2019-20. Everything from that point was aimed at being a success in the top flight when the chance came. This season was that time.

There would be a maturity to Cantwell’s football. He had spoken to The Athletic at length about his game in his words making that very point. Plus there was now an Emi Buendia-shaped space in the limelight to help fill. A 23-year-old with a point to prove and the hunger to prove it.

And yet there have been many more words written, questions asked, sentiments spoken, Christmas presents handed out in Dereham and cryptic social media posts made public so far this season, than meaningful Premier League contributions.

All of which has led Cantwell to begin February loaned out to Bournemouth, who will pay his wages in full for the rest of the campaign. That should not be much of a burden given Cantwell is some way short of being among Norwich’s top earners — a situation that is as much the result of a protracted and difficult contract renewal in the summer of 2019 following promotion as Cantwell’s emergence as an academy product at the same club.

Both Norwich and Cantwell are set to profit should there be a certain number of appearances and Scott Parker’s team return to the Premier League, when an option to make the move permanent for more than £10 million will also become a realistic outcome.

Unlike in previous windows, this January brought some proper conversations with parties interested in taking Cantwell. Newcastle United’s earlier interest was genuine but cooled at an initial £15 million price tag.

Then as deadline day approached and a loan move became viable, there were plenty of conversations. Those most serious included mid-table La Liga side Granada and Greece Super League leaders Olympiakos, who still have a Europa League knockout round tie with Atalanta on the horizon.

However, the idea of being able to catch the eyes of an English audience — albeit in the Championship — was deemed a beneficial platform for Cantwell to rediscover his best form, along with the potential for another shot at the Premier League.

Cantwell’s current contract situation is also a factor. While his deal officially expires in the summer, Norwich hold the option to extend it for 12 months. They will now trigger that to protect their remaining value in the former England Under-21 international but with a view to selling him in the summer.

Either way, a new contract is off the table and Cantwell would be a free agent come July 2023.

Cantwell’s move to Bournemouth makes sense until you remember he was already at a Premier League club. As one of the remaining “crown jewels” that had first achieved promotion under Daniel Farke, it was supposed to be with his hometown side that Cantwell would deliver on his previous promise to become an established Premier League player and garner maximum exposure.

Why has it not worked out that way? It is the question everyone wants a simple answer to, even when one does not exist.

It has never been plain sailing at Norwich. Cantwell’s journey through the academy saw him marked out as a special talent from the beginning but equally, seen as a major challenge for coaches given how far behind he was in terms of physicality.

It was not much before Cantwell was making his debut that some academy staff were taking bets on whether he would ever manage to break into Norwich’s first team, something that made it back to Cantwell.

Cantwell’s first and only previous loan came in the Dutch second tier with Fortuna Sittard, for the second half of the 2017-18 season. It began with him calling then loans manager Neil Adams on a daily basis with complaints over his communal lodgings with new team-mates and ended with promotion to the Eredivisie, plus the adulation of the club and its supporters.

When his team is going well, Cantwell has always found a way to get involved, contribute real quality and help achieve success.

It was Cantwell who, on returning from the Netherlands and knowing James Maddison had been sold, stood in Farke’s office declaring there was no need to buy a replacement because they already had one.

That moment stuck with Farke, who at times was the senior figure at Norwich to hold genuine trust in Cantwell’s abilities. Cantwell’s vow didn’t play out immediately but by the end of the following season, he had scored in victory over Manchester City and also hit goals against Crystal Palace and an FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.

There were times in that 2019-20 campaign when Cantwell looked like the only player willing to take responsibility, with personal as well as collective motivation fuelling it.

Other occasions saw Cantwell resemble a magnet to criticism. That peaked with him being the only player left sat on the Carrow Road pitch, long after the other players had left for the dressing rooms following a 1-0 defeat to Brighton in July 2020 that all but condemned Norwich to relegation.

On speaking to The Athletic about football’s coronavirus suspension allowing him the time to process the prospect of relegation, Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber said: “It let me get my head around it so that when the inevitable came and we got relegated I don’t have to sit sulking, crying at home or lying on a football pitch hoping someone takes a picture of me. When you can look at yourself and be honest, that’s the most important thing. That’s where you get your answers.”

Only Cantwell will know if such a cynical view of his actions was fair. His immediate reaction was to defend himself by posting on his Instagram story the said picture of him on the pitch that day.

While Webber could always take pleasure in seeing Cantwell surprise everyone, including him, it was Farke’s faith and unwavering support that provided the platform to shine. Losing that faith from Farke now appears to be one of the terminal moments in Cantwell’s Norwich career.

Their relationship had survived a rocky period following relegation, as Cantwell had hoped for interest and offers for an immediate Premier League return that never came. Once the late deadline day of October 2020 had passed and Cantwell had overcome ankle and hip complaints, the attacking midfielder was back in the team, scoring and creating goals to signal a more grounded future.

A year later caused irreparable damage.

Family issues had led to Cantwell missing training and the 2-0 defeat at Everton, but that was three games after he was dropped to the bench for Norwich’s trip to Arsenal after a low key start to the season. When Cantwell took to the pitch before the warm-ups, no amount of covering his mouth was hiding his annoyance as he spoke to Max Aarons.

It was from that point on that Farke turned his trust elsewhere and Cantwell rarely completed a full week of training, which for Farke was a prerequisite to earning selection to his matchday squads.

As Norwich struggled to earn a first Premier League point, Cantwell’s previous Premier League impact and subsequent absence was providing a stick for supporters to beat him with; evidence that the German head coach had lost his way with managing young talents. Even one he had held such faith in.

When it came to Farke’s sacking in November and the chance for the Norwich first team to say goodbye, Cantwell was briefed about the situation in one area at Colney, separately to Farke, who said his final piece to the rest of the group in another.

The narrative was supposed to change with the appointment of Dean Smith as Farke’s successor, and that was the initial intention.

Cantwell made the XI in Smith’s first game but what followed was 45 minutes to proved just how far off the pace he was by that point. Josh Sargent replaced him at half-time and Norwich won a Premier League game after being behind for the first time in five years.

His only other start under Smith came in the 2-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa, when Norwich now would have preferred to have pushed for postponement given their illness and injury issues. Cantwell’s reaction to being substituted on 61 minutes was to head straight down the tunnel.

Smith has since spoken publicly about conversations he has held with Cantwell regarding social media usage and keeping his focus on what is being demanded of him from his coaching staff and team-mates. New first-team coach Liam Bramley spent several minutes speaking to Cantwell on the Vicarage Road pitch after the team were informed of Smith’s 20-man squad for the game, which did not include Cantwell due to how he had trained in recent sessions.

This was the video Norwich put out of one of those sessions in the lead up to that Watford game, where Norwich won 3-0. From being last in some of the short movement drills to poor shot and pass selection in the small-sided games, it goes some way to backing up what Smith felt he was seeing across that week. It was enough to leave Cantwell out of the Watford game and enough to cut him out of Norwich’s squad for the rest of the season.

All that had been put down to Farke was now an issue that included two head coaches. Despite Smith’s appreciation of Cantwell’s ability, there was a sense his early conversations were having little impact on the player’s performance levels.

Others at the club observed a difference between Cantwell’s current performance levels and his perception of where he should be at, whether that is club football or beyond.

Confidence and belief in his ability have been a strength for Cantwell for so long. He was one of the busiest players in Norwich’s Soccerbot training aid, with the primary aim to have the best score across the entire staff. At times he has been accused of being “too much like a fan”; at others of hiding away under a hood and preferring his own company.

Now Cantwell has a free slate to get back on track at Bournemouth. The chance to prove that all it really needed was a change of scenery.

None of which will ease the feeling of what could have been for Cantwell at Norwich, whether he returns to the club come next pre-season or not.

Posted By: DrDublin on June 20th 2022 at 12:00:04

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