Neil Adams - Norwich City’s Wes Hoolahan is priceless

The 32-year-old has signed a new deal keeping him at Carrow Road until 2016 to seal a remarkable turnaround after a failed transfer request following interest from Aston Villa last season.

Hoolahan has been in sparkling pre-season form and Adams is in no doubt City have pulled off a major coup to retain the Dubliner's services.

'He gives you that something different. He is not your normal player, he is not a defensive midfielder or a wide midfielder he is someone who can get on the ball and make things happen and make us tick,' he said. 'That is invaluable for any division. I have seen a lot of him at Blackpool before he came here and you see it in training when he is on form the players can't stop him. To have someone like that in your squad day in, day out is priceless.

'It's been a bit of an on-going thing with Wes. There was a lot of speculation really from the back end of last season, and maybe even as far back as January when there were rumours of a proposed move and top players are going to attract plenty of speculation and rumour and gossip. To get a player like Wes Hoolahan to sign it goes without saying how delighted we are at the club.'

Adams used the midfielder sparingly in the closing weeks of City's Premier League season but the Irishman will have a big role in the Championship push.

'I've made it clear with the type of games we had then and the situation we were in at the time was totally different,' he told the club's official site. 'Anyone can see from pre-season I have used him in his best position. I know what he is capable of and when he is on form he can rip teams apart. The way he has come back is a credit to him, not me.

'He played through a lot of the summer with the Republic of Ireland. I went to watch him in New York when he played against Portugal just before they went off to the World Cup and he was the best player for Ireland that day.'