Norwich City column: José Córdoba needs to take his chance against Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers in the absence of Manchester City loanee Callum Doyle

It would be fair to say that José Córdoba’s debut season at Carrow Road has somewhat stalled over the last few months.

The Panama international joined the club from Levski Sofia in the summer for a reported fee of around £3m, with high hopes that he could quickly establish himself at the heart of the defence in Johannes Hoff Thorup’s new-look side.

And after overcoming early-season injury issues, he looked well on course to achieve that goal, starting 10 games in a row after breaking into the team in September.

However, since being sent off away at Sunderland December, Córdoba has yet to feature in the starting XI – a cause not helped by oversleeping and missing a team meeting prior to the recent trip to Watford.

But a two-game suspension for Callum Doyle – as a result of picking up 10 yellow cards across the campaign – opens the door for the 23-year-old to return for Saturday’s visit of Stoke City.

In truth, much of Córdoba’s absence owes to the consistency of the Manchester City loanee, who has started all 33 league games to date and performed well.

But against Stoke and Blackburn Rovers, where the Canaries head next weekend, the onus is on Córdoba to stake his claim to become a more permanent figure once more.

And it’s important that he grabs that chance, especially when you consider Doyle’s future probably lies at a higher level at the conclusion of his loan spell.

You can’t help but feel the more minutes Córdoba is able to achieve this season, the better prepared he will be next campaign when make no mistake about it, the word transition will be banned and the goal for Hoff Thorup’s side will be to push for promotion.

Based on what we’ve seen of Córdoba, he certainly has the potential to rise to the challenge and take a giant stride forward in his Norwich career.

Hopefully it will coincide with a much-needed return to winning ways.