AS A MEMBER of the country’s U17 team that reached the quarter-finals of the European Championships earlier this year, Adam Idah has been earmarked as an Irish player with a potentially bright future in the game.
Idah continued his encouraging progress yesterday by netting a hat-trick for Norwich City’s U23 team in their 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in Premier League 2.
It means that the 17-year-old has scored four goals in his last two outings, having also been on target for the Canaries in a 3-2 victory against Reading last week.
Idah hit the net twice in the first half — including a penalty — as Norwich led 3-0 at the interval. He completed his hat-trick in the 70th minute thanks to an assist from a fellow Irishman in former UCD winger Simon Power.
His performance earned the recognition of former Norwich City star Darren Huckerby, who tweeted his praise of the Cork-born youngster after the game.
Superb win for #NcfcU23 at West Brom , 4 -0 win @adamidah1 on 🔥⚽️⚽️⚽️, well done @mattygill80 👍🏻
— Darren Huckerby (@hucks6dh6) August 27, 2018
Idah, who has Irish and Nigerian parentage, played his schoolboy football for Douglas club College Corinthians before signing for Norwich City in 2017. He ended his first season on the books of the English Championship outfit by winning the club’s U18 and Academy player of the year awards.
Idah also scored eight goals to help Ireland qualify for the U17 European Championships back in May. Colin O’Brien’s side were eliminated by eventual winners Netherlands on penalties in the quarter-finals, with Idah netting in a 2-0 win against Bosnia & Herzegovina when they booked their place in the knockout stages.
The striker — who, according to a report in March, piqued the interest of Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho — has developed a habit for scoring hat-tricks. He helped himself to a treble against Azerbaijan in Ireland’s aforementioned qualifying campaign, and did likewise for Norwich’s U18s last season against Barnsley and Tottenham Hotspur.
It’s a sizeable challenge for any young player to make the step-up to competitive first-team football from the underage ranks, but if Idah can maintain this rate of progress, a call-up from Norwich City boss Daniel Farke might not be far away.
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