The Canadian international has made a positive start to life in England, scoring one and assisting another in his first two appearances for the Canaries since completing a £1.4m move from MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps.
Ahmed’s energy and contributions have seen him serenaded with a new chant by City supporters and he was pushed forward by his new team-mates to take the acclaim of the 800-strong travelling fans after their 5-0 thrashing of West Brom in midweek.
That affection hasn’t come as a surprise to Clement, with Ahmed’s infectious personality helping forge relationships with players in the dressing room and supporters.
“It’s really important to have these talks before with players, to feel them and that doesn’t mean that you can always find this kind of personality, because when you are getting a player, it’s a lot of boxes you need to tick both in quality and in the way of playing.
“We knew 200pc that he suited us because he played in a similar style before and after the talks. I was also really convinced about the personality. If you see him now in the dressing room, it’s like he’s already five years in Norwich, and they’re all his best friends, so he has a really open personality, but you cannot always find a player who ticks all the boxes.
“I was really pleased that we could sign him because we knew we had a lot of competition for him in that moment,” City’s boss said.
“I think the individual talks that he had with me and other people in the club helped to convince him to come to Norwich, which was not an easy situation, to be in a relegation spot, to get players in of that level. But he likes it here and we like what he showed.”
City fought off interest from other English and overseas clubs to land Ahmed, who has given their squad a much-needed boost alongside the returning Papa Amadou Diallo to provide more quality and depth in wide areas.
Papa Amadou Diallo has also returned from injury to help the Norwich City cause. (Image: Martyn Haworth/Focus Images Ltd)
“You saw it. What we see in him. He’s somebody with good quality to eliminate opponents. He has good speed and he’s hungry. He has a lot of desire to become better,” Clement said on Ahmed.
“It’s also the big reason that he came to Norwich, because he had interest from a lot of teams, so it was a big fight to get him to our club. But he’s showing from the first minute that he suits really well the way we want to play football and in the dressing room adapted also really fast. So that’s really pleasing, because those things you don’t know before you make a transfer.
“Papa is like Ali, somebody who hurts opponents with his feet and in his elimination of opponents. So I’m really pleased. He could only do it 20 minutes today. So let’s build up that story, if he shows the right qualities during the training session, the team becomes more and more competitive in the training.
“It’s more and more a fight for the starting XI or to be on the bench. And all the club will benefit from that, but the players also they need to compete every day.”