Alex Neil revealed he has been working on Norwich City's New Year transfer strategy for months to bolster the Canaries' Premier League quest.

City endured a frustrating end to the summer trading, by Neil's own admission, but the Scot confirmed work is well underway to address the deficiencies in his squad during January.

'Work started immediately after the last window closed. It never really stopped to be honest,' he said. 'We sat down after the window, I gathered my thoughts in terms of what we tried to do, what we managed to do, and where we see ourselves moving forward.

'It is like anything else, you have to plan for the next window and the ones coming up after that. We have plans set out to try and achieve our goals and to do that we need to attract some of the best players. Beyond that what happens is out of our control in January. As a manager I would love to bring in lads on January 1 and then have all that time to work with them. I would be delighted with that. The majority of the time when you are trying to get players from elsewhere it is not in your control because they belong to someone else and ultimately that dictates what happens and when.'

Neil did attract West Ham wide player Matt Jarvis and Dynamo Kiev striker Dieumerci Mbokani on season-long loans in the closing hours of the summer window. Both have made a positive impact with Mbokani the one bright spot in Sunday's 6-2 Premier League defeat at Newcastle with his second goal in two club games.

'I thought he was good. He linked the game well, he was threatening and he took his goal well. I was pleased,' said Neil. 'Matt has settled in really well. He is a hard trainer who is desperate to improve and do well and he is the right type you want about the changing room as well.'