According to the Eastern Daily Press, following a post from French side RC Lens on Twitter (below), Norwich City have allowed Under-23 striker Pierre Fonkeu to leave Carrow Road.
2 renforts pour le groupe PRO 2.
Le #RCLens accueille Pierre #FONKEU et Mohamed #CISSE.📝 https://t.co/eUqrK2qM1p …#mercato #Pro2 #FierDEtreLensois #Lensoispourtoujours pic.twitter.com/CgNmCowmWO
— Racing Club de Lens (@RCLens) June 27, 2019
Fonkeu, a 21-year-old striker with dual Cameroonian/Belgian nationality signed for the Canaries after a successful trial in 2017 following his release from Belgian side Club Brugge’s Under-21 set-up. Despite being taken on by the East Anglian club, the youngster didn’t make the breakthrough to the first-team set-up.
Instead, the Cameroonian Under-20 international featured for the Canaries’ Under-23 side, featuring 19 times over his time at the club and scoring five goals. The promotion of Norwich City to the Premier League has seen the Norfolk club reassess their options and Fonkeu is to sign for RC Lens on July 1, the day after his current deal at Carrow Road runs out.
He will join RC Lens ostensibly to play for thier second-string side in the fourth tier of French football, the Championnat 2. Lens’ reserve side play in Group D of that particular division, and it will be here that youngster Fonkeu will look to re-establish himself after his release from English football.
Norwich will face a step up in competition in their season back in the Premier League, and it would be a difficulty that would percolate down the structure at the club. In that sense it would seem to be the fairest thing to do to let Fonkeu go and free to make his mark elsewhere. That mark is with RC Lens, a side in northern France close to the Belgian border.
