trick on starting debut in English Championship for Norwich

Socceroos striker Mohamed Toure has scored a historic hat-trick on his starting debut for English Championship side Norwich.

He scored his three goals in the Canaries 3-0 win over Oxford away from home.

Toure moved to England recently on a $5 million deal from Danish top-flight club Randers and it is already looking like a great decision for the 21-year-old forward.

He has now scored four times in two games for the Canaries after getting the second goal in a 2-0 win over Blackburn last weekend, having come on as a substitute.

That performance earned Toure a promotion to Philippe Clement's starting XI for the clash against relegation-threatened Oxford and he did not let his new coach down.

Toure opened the scoring with his first touch within 51 seconds, before hitting the scoresheet again in the 19th and 47th minutes as Norwich moved up to 16th on the Championship table.

He became the first player since Jesse Lingard for Birmingham City in 2013 to score a hat-trick on his starting debut in any of England's top four tiers.

"It was what we wanted to see from Mohamed — but also from everyone around him," said Clement.

"We've seen the last two months that everyone who plays as a striker gets much better opportunities than three months ago.

"The strikers can be in good positions to finish off the job, and that's what he did really well."

The Guinea-born forward is near certain to be a member of Tony Popovic's squad for the World Cup in North America starting in June.

And if he keeps up this sort of form, Toure is making a compelling case to lead the line for Australia at the World Cup.

He has netted two goals in eight internationals.

When Toure joined Norwich, they faced the real prospect of relegation to the third tier of English football.

But the back-to-back Toure-inspired victories over Blackburn and Oxford have lifted the Canaries to 16th spot, seven points clear of the drop zone.

"Mo is still a young lad with a lot of potential and several things to improve, but he is learning fast," Clement said.

"This week we showed him several images of [Erling] Haaland and how he creates space for himself, as well as [Romelu] Lukaku and how he uses his body.

"It's important to have a striker who can find the spaces in behind and is lethal in front of goal."

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