David Wagner will make it his mission to get Sydney van Hooijdonk firing for Norwich City’s Championship promotion push.

The striker, who turned 24 on Tuesday, completed a transfer deadline night move from Serie A, and made his debut as a late substitute in the 2-1 weekend win over Coventry City.

Dutchman Van Hooijdonk forged a goalscoring reputation in his homeland with an impressive strike rate of a goal nearly every two games in his career.

City negotiated a buy option in the loan move that brought him from Bologna, and Wagner is backing the in-demand young forward to make his mark.

“Big credit to Ben (Knapper) and his team that he was able to get this transfer over the line, because I know there was a lot of interest in Sydney,” said Wagner. “He’s a good age, he's proven can score goals in the Netherlands. It didn't work out for him in Italy, which can happen, and he has a chance to show what he's capable of.

“Now we have to work with him. He has, for sure, to adapt to English football, to English tradition as well. But he's a super, super smart guy. Very open-minded. And he knows how to score goals. He is a penalty box threat, good in the air but has good link up play as well and his technique is decent.

"Now he has to adapt, in terms of the physicality and the speed of the Championship. It's up to us to make him into the player he can be.”

Strike partner Josh Sargent is the perfect role model for van Hooijdonk, after underlining his value to the Canaries again with a sixth league goal of an injury-hit season against the Sky Blues.

“It's very encouraging for us. For him, it only shows how important he is for us. And what a big miss he was for four months of the season,” said Wagner. “He is still not on his best. He can't be, but we have 16 games to go. And we are really looking forward to what comes now in the next few months.

“With Sydney we got the visa very late Friday evening, so it was a doubt if he could be in the matchday squad. But I wanted to give him the winning feeling here in the stadium, where we had a good atmosphere, even for a few minutes.”