Canaries trio are the eye-catchers as City confirm Germany pre-season tour squads

Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke and his coaching team will hope for a productive pre-season week in Germany. Picture: Ian Burt Archant 2018

Nelson Oliveira and Alex Tettey were the eye-catching omissions as Norwich City set-up base for a week of pre-season work in Germany.

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Once again the Canaries have headed to the continent to step up their preparations for the new EFL Championship season, which for City will begin in Birmingham on Saturday, August 4.

But that three-week wait promises to be a lot longer for some than others, as Norwich’s senior and under-23 squads prepare for a total of five friendlies on German soil over the coming five days.

Former Norway international Tettey is the most surprising absence from the Canaries’ tour party, although that is believed to be down to a virus rather than injury.

Portuguese striker Nelson Oliveira is yet to feature in any of City’s friendlies to date – victories over King’s Lynn, Lincoln and Crawley – and the 26-year-old also has not travelled to Germany.

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Oliveira was given a late return to pre-season with City, having been on standby for Portugal’s World Cup squad last month.

However, his continued absence during City’s tour will prompt further questions over the former Benfica forward’s future; Farke played a straight bat to similar posers in the days ahead of City’s Germany tour.

Russell Martin has made the trip to Germany – albeit his involvement will be limited to training and playing alongside Matt Gill’s youngsters.

The long-serving defender has yet to appear this summer, having been deemed out of favour with City head coach Daniel Farke since last autumn and spending the second half of last season on loan at Glasgow Rangers.

The Canaries flew out Friday ahead of an opening tour game on Sunday against German second-tier side Paderborn, before first-team friendlies with Union Berlin and Wolfsburg on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

Oliveira’s compatriot Ivo Pinto is included in Farke’s 26-man squad, as he overcomes a hamstring problem sustained before City’s opening friendly at The Walks.

Scotland international defender Grant Hanley and Northern Ireland left-back Jamal Lewis have also made the trip, despite respective injuries preventing them from featuring so far this summer.

Mario Vrancic is sidelined until the end of August with a groin injury, while Carlton Morris is a long-term absentee after knee surgery.

Gill’s players have two of their own under-23 games while on tour – facing Paderborn tomorrow before Borussia Dortmund await on Tuesday.

• Norwich City’s Germany pre-season tour squads – First Team: Max Aarons, Emiliano Buendía, Todd Cantwell, Ben Godfrey, Grant Hanley, Onel Hernandez, James Husband, Timm Klose, Moritz Leitner, Jamal Lewis, Ben Marshall, Remi Matthews, Michael McGovern, Kenny McLean, Aston Oxborough, Felix Passlack, Ivo Pinto, Teemu Pukki, Sean Raggett, Jordan Rhodes, Dennis Srbeny, Marco Stiepermann, Louis Thompson, Tom Trybull, Yanic Wildschut, Christoph Zimmermann; Under-23s: Devonte Aransibia, Josh Cooley (trialist), Adam Idah, Ciaren Jones, Bilal Kamal, Russell Martin, Jon McCracken, Saul Milovanovic, Timi Odusina, Alfie Payne, Simon Power, Caleb Richards, Tom Scully, Anthony Spyrou, Jordan Thomas.

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