Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit reacts to Chris Sutton's Josh Sargent, Norwich City exit claim | OneFootball

Sutton believes that the American could be out the door after the end of this season.

Lee Hendrie has agreed with Chris Sutton's stance that Josh Sargent will leave Norwich City this summer after another disappointing campaign for the club.

It's not often that a former player of any club will publicly come out and say that they expect arguably the club's best player to move on in the summer, but if there's one thing about Sutton, it's that he is not backwards in coming forwards.

He said in his column for The Pink Un: "Josh Sargent is the best striker in the Championship - now it's time for him to try and challenge himself at a higher level than Norwich City.

"That won't be a popular statement amongst the fanbase, and there will undoubtedly and understandably be a desire to keep hold of Sargent, but he has outgrown them, and it's time for him to take the next step in his career...

"There will certainly be clubs in the Premier League and on the continent who will have a really keen interest in him.

In terms of purely the Premier League, I think he'd have to go to a mid-table club, do well there to make that stepping stone, and then see whether he can eventually cut it at the very highest level. That should be his ambition."

Sargent has been linked with a return to the Premier League in the past, with Everton and Nottingham being more recently reported as potential summer destinations for the striker to land at, as per On The Minute.

Lee Hendrie reveals stance on Norwich City selling Josh Sargent this summer

Hendrie, a pundit for Sky Sports, has exclusively told Football League World that he agrees with Sutton, and expects the American to depart Carrow Road permanently this summer.

"Chris Sutton has talked about Josh Sargent. He expects a sale this summer, and I think that there will be because I don't think that Norwich have been anywhere near where they can be over the seasons that they've been in the Championship," Hendrie said.

"I think they've lost lots of players and usually their model of recruiting players and bringing them in to sell on, which it looks like is going to happen this season. The worrying factor is that Sainz will go - there's no doubt about that I feel - and Sargent too.

"Obviously he can score goals and be prolific, so I think that will definitely happen in the summer. I think that he will leave the football club, which will be a big loss for Norwich.

"I think they've downed tools by selling players of Sargent and Sainz's calibre. How do you replace them players in the Championship if you want to get back into the Premier League?"

Norwich must have Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz alternatives already identified

The Canaries will be fully aware of the interest that they are almost certain to receive in their two star attackers this summer. Much like what happened last summer with Gabriel Sara and Jonathan Rowe, at some point some club could come along and hand them an offer that they feel is too good to turn down.

In that window and the following winter one, Norwich haven't been able to bring in suitable replacements for those two players, who were two of their best prior to them leaving; they are in the same potential situation now.

Not having replacements for Sainz and Sargent already lined up would be a disservice to the work that Johannes Hoff Thorup is trying to do at Carrow Road. Norwich