After holding out of his team’s FA Cup match last weekend to force through a transfer to Toronto FC, Josh Sargent has been demoted to training with Norwich City’s under-21 side.
Manager Philippe Clement confirmed on Friday that the move was a punishment for failing to be available for the 5-1 win over Walsall on Sunday.
“Josh is training with the second team,” Clement said. “What he did is not acceptable for anybody in the club. He knows and that’s the situation now. So I don’t think there’s much more to say about that now.”
The Canaries are set for a return to Championship action on Saturday away to Wrexham. Norwich currently sits in the drop zone in 22nd on 24 points after 26 matches. They trail Portsmouth by one point for the final safe spot.
The Athletic‘s Tom Bogert reports that while the Canaries insist publicly that the United States striker is not for sale, they continue to discuss a transfer with Toronto FC. A 25-year-old native of St. Louis, Sargent has made it clear that he is only interested in a move to Toronto. Sargent’s wife recently gave birth to the couple’s third child.
Still, Clement insists there will be no sale.
“I said he’s not going to leave in this window,” Clement said. “It’s not going to happen. I said this already a few times. This club is in a relegation battle, you have a player who has two-and-a-half year contract still. It’s not that it’s six months. Everybody’s focused in this building in this club about coming out of the situation that the club is [in]. It’s clear for everybody who has a contract here what the club thinks about it and how important that is. That’s the situation.”
Sargent is in his fifth season with the team following a €9.5 million move from Werder Bremen in 2021. He has seven league goals in 22 matches this season and 53 over his Norwich tenure.
Internationally, Sargent has five goals in 29 appearances for the USMNT. He appeared in all three group-stage matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
While the English transfer window closes on Feb. 2, the Major League Soccer win stays open until March 26, so it’s possible that talks between the Canaries and TFC continue into the spring.
The Reds open their 2026 season on Feb. 21 with a visit to FC Dallas.
