Mark Fotheringham is to be handed a deal to keep him at Norwich City next season.The 23-year-old Scot joined City in January on a short-term contract which expires in the summer - to prove to City manager Peter Grant that he was up to scratch after spending the previous 18 months playing in Germany and Switzerland.

Mark Fotheringham is to be handed a deal to keep him at Norwich City next season.

The 23-year-old Scot joined City in January on a short-term contract which expires in the summer - to prove to City manager Peter Grant that he was up to scratch after spending the previous 18 months playing in Germany and Switzerland.

Fotheringham has managed just half a dozen starts, and Grant has now set him the challenge of breaking into his midfield on a permanent basis as he exercises City's one-year option on the deal.

“If you think about it he has played in Germany and Switzerland, a completely different pace of the game,” said Grant. “In our training games he looks as good as anything you'll see and certain aspects in certain games he has looked that way as well.

“I thought at Preston by a million miles he was the best player on the pitch against arguably some of the best midfielders and never gave them a kick. I thought he created, I thought he used the ball exceptionally well.

“He has got all the attributes, but to do that you have to be playing more often. But to play more often he has got to shift the people that are in there and at this moment in time he is finding that difficult.

“It is not down to the fact of what he has done in his training it is due to the fact that the boys in front of him have played ever so well. He has been outstanding in training and when we have played him on a Saturday he has probably not played in his favoured position, but there is no doubt about his quality. We know what he is capable of.

“There is no doubt he has got ability.”

Fotheringham's cause hasn't been helped by several positional switches in the City midfield - while a back injury has prevented him from making his mark on an injury-ravaged midfield.

“It is difficult when you are stop-start and the type of player he is he wants to be involved in the game all the time and sometimes that ends up giving that little lack of discipline because he wants that,” said Grant. “Last week he didn't play particularly well, because he got his injury as soon as he went on. He was just so desperate to go on and his performance was probably as poor as he had since he came, but there is no doubt of his talent.

“What he needs is a run of games.”