Zohore is ready to shine in Euros and repay Cardiff faith
KENNETH Zohore has vowed to repay Neil Warnock’s faith at Cardiff City – by becoming the player his homeland expected him to be.
And the striker says it’s for that reason he won’t be using the Under21 European Championships as a showcase for a big club move.
Zohore is set to figure for his native Denmark in the junior Euros held in Poland, the tournament kicking off today with the Danes opening their bid against Italy in Krakow on Sunday.
The 23-year-old will line up alongside some of the hottest property on the continent in a tournament that has long been a proving ground for players; Juan Mata and Thiago Alacantara were recent players of the tournaments, Alvaro Morata the 2013 top scorer.
The list of the ones to watch – beyond the Premier League talent in the England ranks – is endless. And among them stands Cardiff City’s Zohore.
It will not be a surprise to those in Denmark who, having watched Zohore make his breakthrough with FC Copenhagen as a 16-year-old, always expected him to not only be on such a stage, but thrive upon it.
Yet, had it not been for the words of Warnock, Zohore is unlikely to have even been on the plane to Poland.
Happily for the Bluebirds, the striker who signed a new deal to reflect his new lease of life and new status as top scorer, knows that – just as he knows he has not yet lived up to Danish expectations.
“I’ve grown older than the young boy who got the debut at the age of 16,” he said in the build-up to this month’s tournament, which will also see games against Germany and the Czech Republic in the group stage.
“That’s why I am really glad that I’m sitting here and still so young that I still have plenty of years in front of me to take advantage of what I’ve learned now. Rather now than never.”
Much of that learning seems to have been done in the past six months. There were eyebrows raised in Denmark when Zohore made the move to Cardiff – via a loan move to Belgium – with many thinking he wasn’t ready following a lull in his career. He did little to suggest otherwise for much of his time in South Wales, at least until Warnock got hold of him.
The ultimatum before his substitute appearance against Wolves in mid-December is well known and could well move into Cardiff City legend should he continue the progression that saw him hit 12 goals in the second-half of last season.
Still, it’s refreshing to hear it from the player himself.
“I was really on my way to Belgium on a loan deal that my agent had arranged for me,” he told Danish title Ekstra Bladet. “By that time I had not played under Neil Warnock. We met Wolverhampton and came back 1-0 in a rather bad match.
“He came to me in the break and says: ‘Now you’ve got your chance. Give everything what you can’ -– and I did.
“I have grown wiser and older now, and I have learned that, as Neil Warnock says, it is not enough to be good, you also have to work for it.
“I’m still going to live up to all the expectations people have had for me. For all the faith other people have had in me, I’ve also had it in myself. I even forget myself I am still young so I have time.
“So for me, this is not an exhibition window, which is how I would normally would have seen it. For me, it’s about doing the best with the national team, and it does not matter to me if there are all sorts of scouts. I’m happy where I am and do not need a new club.”