‘Temper’… Johannes Hoff Thorup breaks silence on Borja Sainz weakness and recent Norwich City struggles

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Former Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup has spoken about Borja Sainz’s struggles following his move to Porto.

Following the 2024/25 Championship season, Norwich City sacked Johannes Hoff Thorup after the Canaries finished in 13th.

The bottom-half finish for Thorup’s side was enough to cement his future away from the club due to the expectations of a play-off finish.

After a brilliant start to the season, courtesy of the vast quality that Borja Sainz was showing, racing ahead with the Championship golden boot at such an early stage, things then fell away for the Canaries.

Such a dip in form for the club somewhat correlated with Sainz’s change in fortunes, and Thorup has discussed why the Spaniard did drop off during the 2024/25 Championship campaign.

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Former Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup on Borja Sainz’s dip in form

Last season, Borja Sainz notched 18 goals in 41 Championship appearances, although only three of these fell in the second half of the campaign.

Since last season drew to its conclusion, Sainz has moved from Norwich City to Porto, a deal that arguably benefits the Canaries because of the Spaniard’s uncertainty regarding form.

Former Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup was able to get the best out of Sainz last season, but admitted that a selection of issues weighed upon him in the latter stages of the campaign.

Speaking to the Second Tier Podcast, Thorup said: “I think there are two things to it. I think first of all, he came from a season where, at the end of it, he started to score goals, but two seasons ago, he actually played for Norwich U21s for a couple of games.

“So for him to be the star player all of a sudden was completely new to him.

“He had that fantastic start, and he scored a lot of goals, and a lot of those goals were also very beautiful, fantastic goals.

“So after these, I would say 15 games, the opposition started to probably prepare a little bit better and a little bit more when they had to play against Borja Sainz, and they also started to find out about his temper and stuff like that and see if they could provoke him a little bit more. That was something we worked a lot with to support him and help him.

“It was difficult for him just to manage in some games, and also to manage in some games where there was, all of a sudden, not only one defender covering or marking him. Sometimes there were two, sometimes there were even three defenders doing it.

“So there was not really space for him, which just meant that there was space for some of the other players on the pitch. But that was a little bit difficult for him.

“Second of all, when you outperform as he did to begin with the season, at some point in the season, that outperformance will be more realistic again. That will go for every player.

“I think he was close to scoring 15 goals on I think seven or eight xG. So it’s more or less double what we could expect from the goals that he scored.

“So at some point it will be more even and it will be more consistent. So I think a combination of a fantastic start but also uh that fantastic start to even out a little bit and and the opposition paying more attention to him.”

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Norwich City fans will be keen for Borja Sainz to be successfully replaced

Borja Sainz’s sale to Porto benefits the Canaries because of the £14.2m that has been left for Norwich City to play around with.

Norwich have already made the blockbuster signing of Mathias Kvistgaarden, but it is expected that he will be a replacement for Josh Sargent, who is set to be sold for a £21m fee.

There will be an expectation amongst Norwich City fans this summer that Sainz will be replaced adequately, and a sizeable amount of money will need to be spent to ensure this.

A large share of the eight-figure amount they brought in for Sainz may have to be spent in order to replace his brilliant goalscoring qualities shown in the first half of the season.