Dynamo Dresden had hoped to secure an option to buy Marcel Franke at the end of his loan from Norwich City.

The 24-year-old defender has returned to Bundesliga II for the rest of the season with his hometown club, following an unsuccessful first six months as a Canaries player.

'With Marcel, we have found an ideal solution for the second half of the season,' sporting director Ralf Minge said, after easing his club's defensive injury crisis. 'Marcel is a Dresden boy, has experience and is in his prime. He will fuel the competition in central defence, which will ultimately benefit everyone.

'I would like to express my gratitude to the people in charge of Norwich City for making the transfer possible. We would have liked to secure a purchase option, that this was not possible shows the high esteem that Marcel is held in at Norwich.'

MORE: Norwich confirm Dynamo Dresden will sign Marcel Franke on loan in January

The German was signed from Greuter Furth in a deal worth up to £2.5million during the summer but made just seven starts and was dropped following an awful 4-0 defeat at Millwall at the end of August.

Franke passed his medical on Tuesday and will begin training with his new team-mates when Dynamo return from their winter break on January 3, wearing the squad number 28 that he also had at Norwich.

'I'm overjoyed that the move went through,' Franke added, speaking to Dresden's website. 'Dynamo is my home club, I played here for 15 years and enjoyed a very good education.

'I will do my utmost to get my work done in the second half of the season and help the team achieve their goals. I am eager to finally be back on the pitch for Dynamo and I'm already looking forward to the coming months.'

MORE: Franke may be the first January exit at City – but is unlikely to be the last

City boss Daniel Farke suggested earlier this week that Franke would return next summer after getting some regular game time.

'Marcel struggled a bit to adapt to the Championship at the start of the season, and that's why we changed things after the Millwall result,' Farke told City's website.

'He has improved very much in recent weeks in training, but we've played a lot with Timm Klose, Grant Hanley and Christoph Zimmermann in the centre-back positions and they are all in good form and we've been pretty solid, including a club record of consecutive clean sheets.

'We think it would be good for Marcel to be playing games for his confidence, and to get back into his rhythm at a high level and to come back in good shape in June.'

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