Comparing Norwich City and Ipswich Town’s most exciting wonderkid
FLW compares the biggest wonderkid from either side of the East Anglian divide…
For the first time in over four years, the East Anglia Derby has returned to the Championship courtesy of Ipswich Town’s promotion from League One, ending a hiatus in the third-tier of English football.
They’ve gone from strength to strength under the refreshing and progressive management of Kieran McKenna and sit satisfied in second-place after nine matches, meaning that a much-belated return to the dizzy heights of the Premier League is on the agenda.
Norwich, who’ve instead held a reputation as a yo-yo club, harbour the same ambitions and haven’t started proceedings too badly themselves, but Ipswich’s top-flight dreams appear more attainable at the minute.
That said, there are other ways of comparing the two sides, and as they’re both finally back in the same division it now feels as though we’re on fair and level ground to compare their two biggest wonderkids.
Who are they?
Let’s get straight into it and find out who they are and who comes out on top…
Who is Norwich City’s biggest wonderkid?
This title has to go to one man at Carrow Road.
Truth be told, it was straight-forward to evaluate that Jonathan Rowe is the most exciting wonderkid in Norfolk at the moment, and that’s a testament to the sensational degree of his early-season performances.
A peripheral figure with only a small handful of experience before this season, he’s shot out of the blocks and seized every possible opportunity by already chalking up six goals and two assists from 11 outings in both the Championship and EFL Cup, establishing his status as not only the Canaries’ finest young player but perhaps one of the division’s, too.
Lightning quick and inventive with a sincere goal threat, the 20-year-old winger is an outstanding prospect – but is he the best in East Anglia?
Who is Ipswich Town’s biggest wonderkid?
Removing loan players from the equation here, Cameron Humphreys is also fairly unrivaled in being his side’s most promising youngster.
The technically-gifted midfielder enjoyed a rise to relative prominence during his side’s promotion campaign last time out, featuring 17 times in League One and putting in a string of promising performances in the middle of the park.
Those displays saw him nominated for the league’s Young Player of the Year Award, but unsurprisingly, game time has been harder to come by in the Championship.
The 19-year-old yet to play in the league and only counts cup fixtures against Reading and Wolves – scoring in the former – as his appearances this season to date, although nonetheless, his qualities shouldn’t be lost on supporters.
He’s the classy midfielder that every manager dreams of, with the natural elegance and simplicity on the ball that makes the game look much easier than it really is.
At times, he’s appeared two or three steps above opponents with an exquisite and expansive variety of passing, while he’s also been known to hit them from range…
But is he better than Norwich City’s Jonathan Rowe?
Who is the biggest wonderkid out of Jonathan Rowe and Cameron Humphreys?
With all respect to Humphreys, it’s pretty straight-forward to decipher not only who the better player is, but also – and crucially too – who has the higher ceiling in years to come.
The Town prospect is exciting in his own right, and it’s not a blot on his record to be trumped by one of the very finest prodigies outside of the Premier League, but when you compare that one was decent in League One and the other is absolutely lighting the Championship up then there’s quite a lot between them.
