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It’s been ages though since he last played, the RS Derby where he was sent off and clearly not available for the Wigan game either so it seems to have taken some time to get his op. He has a raw, competitiveness about him that’s different from the likes of Cannon and Dobbin , wishing him well for a speedy recovery.
No doubting dowell's abilities Norwich and there manager seem to be a good fit for him . interesting to see if a couple of Norwich players have improved since the last time there were in the prem. Like the look of Skipp but I think he is only on loan from spurs
I wouldn’t disagree about his talent he was a super youngster with us but for me there was always something lacking , - application? work rate? energy?. His time on loan at Forest was typical, some great goals, Man of match displays , but when things got tough his contributions seemed to drop. I think they changed their manager too and he never quite got back to the same level. I can see that in a bright Norwich team sweeping opponents aside in the Championship he will be in his element. The test will be if they end up in a relegation dog fight next season, has he changed enough to step up for the fight.?
You will find out how good or otherwise Dowell is next season.
You are right produce a couple every year or 2 and sell for £5-10 million is decent business.
I usually think where a player is wanted on loan or where they move next is a good indicator of whether they should be under consideration for more game time with us. Dowell was very much a known quantity in football, and yet no PL team moved for him. Even Sheffield United, where he'd been on loan, didn't want to make the move permanent when they came up. On that basis you'd have to assume he just wasn't ready to be a PL player. That might change over time, but there's nothing at all in Dowell's career so far to suggest he should have been part of the first team here 3 years ago.
As always with young players (or any player to be fair) there's a possibility he could have been useful at times, but that's a bit different to 'deserving' a chance if you know what I mean. It's possible he might have got a couple of goals or assists if he'd played (although his record in senior football so far doesn't really support that hypothesis) in the same way Besic might have been better to have on the bench on monday than the players we did. Ultimately, it doesn't actually make either of them good enough.
I'd argue that loans for youngsters between premier league teams are extremely rare for the reason that they'd only use them as squad players if at all. No PL team sniff around any young players except for the outstanding ones. In fact, trying to think of kids <21 in the prem on loan this season I Co only think of Ampadu that's getting any sort of minutes. I'm not sure Davies or Calvert Lewin would've had any takers in the prem for a loan 3 years ago either. I'm not saying Dowell shouldve been playing every game or he would be a premier league player by now but I think he warranted more of a chance to see what he was like. You don't know whether a player is ready unless you see them in an actual game in our specific environment, Sheff U don't play a 10 in Wilders system which made him just a useful player in a promotion push, he didn't fit so was never going to get signed. That's also problem for Dowell as well but I'm not sure it's that great an indicator.
I wasn't talking just about loans. I'm saying Dowell left here at about 22 as a well known player with loads of under 21 caps and championship games under his belt. He was available for a pittance, and yet not one PL club made a move for him. That isn't indisputable proof that he wasn't considered a PL player, but it's pretty strong circumstantial evidence.
I'm not saying he wasn't considered a premier league player because by 19-20 that ship had sailed on him moving to another premier league club. But the best of the rest were the ones that snapped him up so its not like he was a million miles away and moved to Carlisle or someone. He joined the 21st best team in the country when by your metric if he joined the 20th he would've been seen as a premier league player?