City manager and supporters alike may find themselves hoping that on-loan Canary striker Ched Evans keeps his light well hidden under the nearest bushel when the Welsh Under-21s play host to their England counterparts in a fortnight's time.
For as Canary boss Glenn Roeder starts in earnest to think about his summer recruitment plans, so Evans' whereabouts next August is going to be sitting very much at the top of his in-tray.
And given the current level of uncertainty and rancour descending on Eastlands in respect of Sven-Goran Eriksson's prospects of being in charge in a month's time, let alone four, Roeder will be keeping his fingers firmly crossed that out of the impending chaos City may be able to pluck Evans back out of the fire.
With ten goals to his name thise season, the 19-year-old will have hardly gone unnoticed. But to repeat the kind of goal-scoring feats he has already achieved with Bryan Flynn's Welsh Under-21 this season in front of the full glare of an England Under-21 clash would only add to the interest and profile of the young man from North Wales.
And having worked so hard on nurturing his obvious talents in the back end of this season, Roeder would be more than happy if Evans had a quieter night against Stuart Pearce's troops than he did against France – Evans' hat-trick the night before he made that first switch to Norfolk leaving the City chief rightly fearful that Eriksson might opt to keep his young, free-scoring charge rather closer to home.
Speaking ahead of last Saturday's home clash with Queen's Park Rangers – in which, of course, Evans not only grabbed the crucial opening goal but also walked away with the Man of the Match gong – Roeder suggested that the on-loan Manchester City youngster was coming very nicely to the boil.
“I think he's playing better now than he has ever done for us,” said Roeder, with the manner of Evans' celebrations last weekend suggesting that he continues to have the time of his young footballing life at Carrow Road. And it wasn't just down to the crucial goals he scores – Cardiff and Southampton away offered four points that were pretty much down to the power of Evans' right-foot.
“It's also down to how much work he's putting in for the team,” said Roeder, with that late, late rocket at Ninian Park unlikely to be bettered this season as the Canaries prepare for that final outing at Sheffield Wednesday this Sunday.
“I thought after Cardiff his work-rate slipped – he scored two terrific goals at Cardiff and [though] you don't like to, you come to learn to expect that from young players.
“That if sometimes they do very, very well, sometimes they take their foot off the accelerator a little bit – and Ched did that for a while. He wasn't working anywhere near as hard as he should have been for the team and consequently then his form suffered.
“But with us talking to him, he's got back to what he should be doing first and foremost – and that's working hard for the whole team. It's a team game and not an individual's game. He was starting only to run when there was a chance of him having a shot. And last week [West Bromwich Albion], in particular, I thought he was excellent – he played the whole 90 minutes.
“He's going to have a real goal-scoring career. And when he gets to 30 and looks back at his career, there will be goals everywhere.”
Ideally, just not at Wrexham on May 15 when Flynn and Co play host to Theo Walcott and friends. It is a big, big time for the Welsh Under-21s. For having already disposed of France en route to putting themselves in a great position to qualify for next summer's European Under-21 Championships in Sweden, adding England's scalp to their belt would be the icing on the cake.
?We're using England as a warm-up game ? that shows how far we've come,? said Flynn, speaking to the icWales website. ?The improvements we have made are a credit to the players. I could have picked two squads, such is the strength in depth we have.?
Wales currently top their group – ahead of favourites France, Bosnia, Malta and Romania. A double-header against the Romanians will now decide their qualifying fate.
First, however, and it is the old enemy after Pearce holds to a promise he made Flynn at the start of the year.
?I was in Cannes in January where they were making the Under-17 and Under-19 draw for next season,? said Flynn. “Stuart was there, and we were chatting away, I asked if he had any free dates coming up.
?He said there was May 15, so I suggested we organise a game. He was all for it, and as it's turned out, it's a great centenary game to be playing.?
Should both qualify from their European groups, they could meet in October's play-offs with a place in Sweden at stake. For now, however, all canary fans will be hoping is that their star loan recruit Evans does well, but not that well…
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