Norwich City head coach Philippe Clement outlined the strict conditions imposed on injured Socceroos star Mohamed Toure during his rehabilitation in Australia, including a warning that he will be flow...
Norwich City head coach Philippe Clement outlined the strict conditions imposed on injured Socceroos star Mohamed Toure during his rehabilitation in Australia, including a warning that he will be flown back to England if he fails to meet the club’s requirements.
Toure is recovering from shoulder surgery in his hometown of Adelaide, having been granted permission to complete the initial stage of his rehabilitation alongside family and friends away from EFL Championship outfit Norwich.
The Norwich striker hurt his shoulder during the loss to Bolton Wanderers in September, leaving his 2027 AFC Asian Cup participation in doubt with the 22-year-old not expected to return until January.
But Toure has been left in no doubt about his responsibilities Down Under, with Clement confirming Norwich are closely monitoring his weight, exercises and daily wellness reports.
“We’ve been talking a lot. We have weekly contact with him, the medical staff and me also,” Clement told reporters.
“There were also a few things that we demanded of him when he stayed there, for example, about his weight and the exercises that he’s doing.
“It’s all coordinated by the medical staff from here, so there’s daily contact around that.
“And about his wellness. He needs to fill in the wellness questionnaire like everybody’s doing every day. If he’s not doing that, then he will take the first flight back here.
“So it’s a good moment in this first phase of his rehab to have him there with his family, with everybody around him, because with the shoulder, it’s very difficult for him to do things outside of the rehab here.
“He needs help, and his family is around him, so that helps. And there are good people there that our medical staff know to help with the rehab in the first phase.
“Later on, he will come back to Norwich to do the next part of his rehab.
“It’s working really well, and he looks really fit. He showed off a few times, showing his body on video towards me, how fit he is and how hard he’s working. So it looks really good.”
Toure – who missed Australia’s doubleheader against five-time world champions Brazil – had scored in each of his last three league matches before succumbing to injury with Norwich, while he had scored five goals in the Championship this season, and six across all competitions for Norwich in 2026-27.
Since debuting for Norwich in February, the Socceroo has scored 16 goals and tallied four assists in 21 games in all competitions.
Toure recently spoke to Network 10 and spoke about his chances of being fit for the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
“Recovery has been well and good. I’ve been progressing quite well, and I’m very happy with it. It looks like we’re making a lot of progress,” Toure told 10 Sport.
“I dislocated my shoulder in a game (against Bolton), but because I damaged a bit of the socket, I had to get surgery to put some bone or screws in to keep it in place so it doesn’t come back out.
“It is possible to be back for the Asian Cup; I think so. I’ve been talking to the physios, and I’ve been working extra just to come back early in general.
“Also, Norwich as well; I know they’ll be waiting for me to come back. They’ve been nice enough to let me do my rehab in Australia, so I’m working towards those dates.
“End of December and early January are the dates we are working towards, so we’ll hopefully see.”
Tony Popovic’s Socceroos are scheduled to meet Graham Arnold’s Iraq, Singapore and Tajikistan in Group D at the 2027 Asian Cup.
Discussion
Sign in to join the discussion.