Josh Sargent’s departure from Werder Bremen was all but assured once the German club was relegated from the Bundesliga back in May, but after weeks of speculation linking him to various Bundesliga clubs, it is now an English Premier League side set to secure his services.
Sargent is on the verge of securing a transfer to newly-promoted Norwich City, German outlet Bild reported on Friday, with Bild putting the transfer at close to $13 million, with add-ons potentially increasing the final price.
Sargent is reportedly set to undergo his medical on Sunday, paving the way for his move away from Bremen three and a half years after he signed his first professional contract with the club.
Werder Bremen endured a nightmare 2020/2021 season that saw the team relegated from the Bundesliga, but Sargent was one of the team’s few bright spots, finishing the season with a career-high seven goals and three assists in all competitions, appearing in 37 matches.
Sargent wasted no time making his mark on Bremen’s current season in the German second-division, scoring two goals in the team’s first match.
If the deal goes through, Sargent will join a Norwich City strike force led by Finnish striker Teemu Pukki, a 31-year-old striker who has been one of the club’s leading players for several years.
Sargent would also be reunited with former Werder Bremen teammate Milot Rashica, who joined Norwich City in his own $13 million move back in June.
Sargent had been linked to multiple Bundesliga clubs immediately after Bremen’s relegation, most recently with Leverkusen, but once Norwich City joined the chase, it took the price to a level the other interested Bundesliga clubs couldn’t match.
The 21-year-old striker is also in a fight for the starting role in the USMNT attack, and with World Cup qualifying starting in September, Sargent will need to get off to a good start with the Canaries if he is going to beat out a growing crop of striker candidates that includes Jordan Siebatcheu, Gyasi Zardes and Daryl Dike among others.
Sargent was part of the USMNT’s Concacaf Nations League title run in June, and is considered the favorite to start at striker when the Americans return to action in September.
Does anyone else think Daniel Farke could be a positive who could potentially help Sargent?
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I do. I don’t really know Farke all that much, but I heard his interview from a little over a year ago, the day that Norwich got relegated. He sounded like a good guy. I know, that’s not much to go on, but the fact that the owners kept him after being relegated says something. And his experience working with young players in the Bundesliga has got to give him a bit of a connection with Sargent.
Norwich isn’t a trash team who stumbled into the Prem. They’ve been a very strong team that bonuses in and out of Prem. Usually when th s good attack.
At least he’s familiar with relegation battles.
What encouragements to Sargent!
Not all teams promoted to the Premier League get relegated back down like Fulham. Leeds United did quite well. BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION stayed up since their promotion to the EPL in 2017. Burnley have managed to stay in the EPL since 2007.
I was being a little facetious. Sargent and Bremen did avoid relegation the season before last (through a playoff). I am also aware that all promoted teams go straight back down. He might form a really good partnership with Pukki–maybe a classic big/small striker tandem. I think they will miss Buendia. Hope they can hang on to Cantwell.
Well, he’s familiar with relegation battles!
Nice! Sargent will give a reason to root for Norwich. I haven’t followed them since the Zak days. Any one know what happened to him. I remember him injured a lot and very few call ups even though Norwich was up in the Premiership at the time. Good luck to Sargent!
Not sure what to think of this deal…only f he plays can it be considered a good one…but they just spent a bunch of money of Soto and now Sargent….what’s the deal?….and it seems they didn’t have much patience for Soto because they shipped him off to Porto, so what does that mean for Sargent if he doesn’t score?
Generally not a big fan of US field players in England….there is such a bias…
Brutal early season schedule for the canaries., but some good home games. Double digit goals would be nice, with a handful of assist. Americans are getting bought by newly promoted teams. It’s a double edged sword. Test a young mans mettle.
So next year we could see Sargent and Sebastian Soto on the first team?
Probably not, the loan to Porto likely has a buy clause so if Sebastian does well enough to earn a spot with Norwich he’ll probably be purchased by Porto.
Unfortunately, I don’t see much of a future at all for Soto. Him fading from the picture seems to be a common denominator in all of his moves. I see Pepi breaking through or something before I can see Soto reëntering the picture.
Is this true that this is Norwich biggest spending signing?
According to transfermkt it is but barely. They’ve had a couple 12 million including Rashica this Summer. Sometimes with these the numbers aren’t quite right because someone hears 11 million and thinks dollars and it’s Euros or vice versa. They just had their biggest sale ever in Buendia so they’ve some extra cash to spend. There are rumors around Cantwell being sold so that would open another 20-30 million allegedly.
Wow!!! Johnny thanks for the input, I was reading your norwich comment on the other page and I had no idea Norwich had made that many moves. Makes me feel better about the move
Rashica’s should be worth more due to the $4 million in add-ons it has (Sargent’s deal has add-ons, but not as many).
I don’t like the move. Reminds me of Altidore going from Villa Real with 1 goal in 9 games to Hull and getting 1 goal in 28 games. The PL is a big jump up and to do it at a newly promoted team he won’t have the supporting cast to help him. Better to stay in Bundesliga for more minutes, goals and confidence. That said, I really hope I’m wrong.
Yeah. He wasn’t getting many looks in the Bundesliga, it’s hard to see him ripping goals in the Prem.
Maybe we’re both wrong.
Here’s to hoping we know not of what we speak.
Bremen wasn’t in the Bundesliga anymore though, and I’m not sure what player is passing up a chance to go to the Premier League rather than staying in the German second division.
Going to a Bundesliga club might have been a better move for him, but money talks and what Bremen was looking for transfer wise wasn’t what mid-table Bundesliga teams were ready to pay for a player who was likely to be a backup.
As for Altidore, Villarreal to Hull City was a loan, and it just happened to be a Hull City team that was one of the absolute worst Premier League attacks/midfields ever seen (I was ‘lucky’ enough to watch Jozy and that Hull team play Landon Donovan and Everton play and let me tell you, that Hull team was TRASH.)
Norwich City won’t be near as bad as THAT Hull team, especially in terms of offense, and truth be told, present-day Josh Sargent is considerably better than Altidore was at that point in his career, with much more top-level European match experience (80 first-team Bundesliga matches vs. Altidore’s 6 La Liga first-team matches), so not really a good comparison.
I hear you though, there’s going to be that worry about Sargent getting stuck on the bench, but that’s the risk you take, and the reward could be that he settles well, benefits from his established relationship with Rashica, and does well.
Better comparison is Jozy to Sunderland…he was coming off a fantastic few seasons in the Netherlands. Money does talk and the premier league is a huge draw but it’a major risk to go to a team you know will likely be in a relegation battle. Newly promoted team who sold their best player (Buendia) earlier in the summer. Feels like he could have used another year or two before jumping to the prem. I’m not in love with it.
For what it’s worth, I don’t see a club like Norwich dishing out that much money if they don’t plan to use him right away or at least darn soon. That’s one of the things about battling for survival: you don’t allocate resources like that for “down the road” projects.
I can see him being used in a similar way to the way he was used toward the end of last season and in the first league match for Bremen —— as a non-traditional winger/inverted forward type, a bit like Berhalter’s forwards during the Gold Cup.
My hope is that his familiarity with Milot Rashica and the presence of Todd Cantwell (they’re not going to let Villa buy Buendia AND Cantwell, are they?) and Billy Gilmour in the midfield will give Norwich a sturdy spine that makes this year an altogether different situation for Sargent than the last couple of years at Bremen.
Good move for Sargent. Norwich bulked up its midfield, a big problem at Bremen, and is looking for depth at the top. Norwich wouldn’t spend that amount of money if it didn’t have long term plans for Sargent. He has already shown his ability at link-up and transition play, in addition to striking. He may not start, but Norwich will find a place for him once they find the best fit.