NORWICH City and Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah has opened up on the struggles he has endured with the professional lifestyle of a top-level footballer.

The Cork native has endured some tough times in the last two years, having struggled to put a decent run of games together due to a number of injuries.

22-year-old Idah - a favourite of Republic of Ireland manager, Stephen Kenny - made his first appearance in green for 17 months in the narrow defeat to France last month.

That lack of game time was down to two consecutive knee injuries he suffered, which kept him out for a large part of 2022.

Speaking on The Beautiful Game Podcast, Idah acknowledged that throughout his career, he has occasionally lacked professionalism.

"When I got injured first, I tore my meniscus, it was strange because I didn't really know what to do recovery-wise.

"I didn't really do it to the best of what I should have done. I would come into training late, probably not do enough gym work, not look after my knee.

"I didn't think it was as serious as it was. I thought 'I'm 21 years of age, my knee is going to recover fine'.

"Then I came back from that and in my last session before I rejoined the squad, I slipped and did (the knee) again."

Idah continued: "When I found out I had to get surgery the second time, the surgeon did say to me 'this could be really serious if you don't cop on'. That's when it hit me that I had to work really hard to get my knee back to what it was."

The Leesider's change in attitude to nutrition, recovery and other necessary aspects of a professional lifestyle has led to a new appreciation for looking after his body, and he has since reaped the rewards on the pitch.

Although the pacy front-man has not lit up the goal trail so far - notching just twice in 23 appearances this term - his Norwich involvement has increased significantly in recent times, lining out in the vast majority of their fixtures since December.

"That made a big impact on me this season. It has probably changed a lot of things for me in terms of nutrition, sleeping, training, and recovery.

"Before my nutrition wasn't the best. My nutrition wasn't bad, but I wouldn't look into it the way I do now. If someone offered me chocolate, I was going to eat it. Even if I had a game the next day, I wasn't turning down anything.

"It was so important for my recovery to get that nutrition right. It made me realise that this does help the body a lot. Even things like sleep, I used to go to bed at all sorts of hours of the night."