Bournemouth have decided not to take up the option to turn the loan of Todd Cantwell from Norwich City into a permanent deal and the player is expected to rejoin his parent club for pre-season this summer, Norwich boss Dean Smith has revealed.
The career of the 24-year-old midfielder can’t exactly be said to be going in the right direction. Not too long ago, he was one of the best performers for Norwich under Daniel Farke, linked with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United. He represented England at youth levels, but not as a senior international as of yet.
An extremely versatile midfield player, Cantwell started the season as a nailed-on starter at Norwich, but his place in the team soon became debatable, and eventually disappeared altogether. Farke was relieved of duty due to poor results in early November, and after Smith arrived to take over from the German, Cantwell started just twice in the Premier League before heading out to the Vitality Stadium on the final day of January.
It was a similar story there. He started seven Championship matches in a row for Bournemouth and then dropped to the bench. He was left out of the squad completely as the Cherries finished second to Fulham and secured Premier League promotion.
All in all, he’s made 22 appearances in all competitions this term for Norwich and Bournemouth combined, including two matches he played for the Canaries at the Under-23 level and his only goal of the season coming in one of those. He had no assists.
