Wantaway Norwich City midfielder Wes Hoolahan has been left in no doubt what is expected of him, according to Chris Hughton.

Hoolahan had a transfer request rejected last week by the Canaries, who also rebuffed Aston Villa's initial enquiry for the Republic of Ireland international earlier in the window. Hughton revealed yesterday he is trying to limit the fallout with key Premier League games against Newcastle tonight and the trip to Cardiff coming either side of Friday's transfer deadline day.

'Wes is a player who we have made clear to that the bid we received is not acceptable and that we are not willing to grant his transfer request,' said Hughton. 'Around that will be issues like the emotional side of things and how the fans might react and we can't do anything to control that. It is not about a player wanting to go, because he is not the first and he won't be the last. We just have to manage the circumstances. I have to decide whether he is in the right frame of mind to be involved. It would not have been our wish for this situation to come around but we now have to deal with it. What I do know is that we are in a much better position to handle any requests for our players compared to a few years ago.

'Wes is one player. We have a squad of 25 and a couple of young players in Josh and Jacob Murphy who have been around it and these are the situations that all managers must deal with. After Friday the speculation stops.'