Jamal Lewis is on the fast track to Norwich City's Championship line up.

Daniel Farke has ruled out a potential New Year loan to get the highly-rated teenager back up to speed after a five-month layoff with a knee injury curtailed his meteoric progress.

Lewis earned a long term Carrow Road deal after his breakthrough in pre-season, and Farke is adamant the unproven youngster is good enough now to step in over the festive period.

'We don't think about giving him away on loan in January,' said City's head coach.

'We really believe our academy starlet is able to have a lot of minutes here, especially when he is back 100pc in the New Year. With his pace, agility and running power he can play as a left back or a left winger.

'His pace will certainly help us.

'After five months out he looks really good.

'I was even thinking about him being in the squad (for Sheffield Wednesday) even though he has been out for so long and he is yet to play in the Championship. I am pretty sure before long he will play for us at this level.

'Of course you have to keep in mind he has not played at this level and it will take time to be consistent but we are pretty sure he can develop.

'In pre-season he was probably the young player who was most in focus.

'I thought he was brilliant. He is a player I am really waiting for.

'When you look, especially at a young player after such a long break, you can say that in eight days of training he looked like he had never been away.

'In his first under-23s game he was the best player on the pitch for the 60 minutes he played. He is full of talent.'

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James Maddison is another who has benefited from Farke's faith in youth since his arrival from Dortmund, and the England Under-21 international was a key figure again in Saturday's second half fightback against the Owls.

'You could see the young lads were struggling at half-time so it was important for me to give them some trust and remind them we have to go further on, stay disciplined, concentrate and play this style,' said Farke.

'I think after they scored you could see the nerves and we lost our game a little bit. That cannot happen.

'But I said, 100pc, this is the day it turns around and James was very good in the second half.'

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