No Norwich City return for Seb Bassong ahead of Bournemouth’s Championship visit

Adams blooded debutants Carlos Cuellar and Kyle McFadden in the midweek Capital One Cup win over Crawley with Ryan Bennett ruled out for up to two months following ankle ligament surgery.

The Canaries' boss knows he must prioritise defensive reinforcements ahead of Monday's transfer window deadline and City were linked with a £1.5m for Arsenal's Spanish centre back Ignasi Miquel on Thursday, whilst reports in Italy claimed they had also expressed an interest in Lazio's Michael Ciani.

But Adams insisted Norwich's lack of central defensive cover will not trigger a return to the first team fold for Bassong against the Cherries.

The Cameroon international is being touted with a possible move to Crystal Palace following the return of Eagles' boss Neil Warnock to Selhurst Park.

'It doesn't alter his situation at all,' said Adams. 'Everybody knows he hasn't been used so far and he won't be on Saturday either but he is a Norwich City player. It is up to him. Would I ever say no, he is not going to play for us? Absolutely not, but there are other players above him at the minute. We need to strengthen the defence and there is nothing to report at this stage but we have four days left in the window and I certainly hope we can do something. I want to go into the next week and beyond September 2 with a stronger defence than we have at the minute. It will have to be right for us but we are working hard on that.'

Adams did opt to bring Luciano Becchio back into the squad for the Capital One Cup tie against the Reds despite the Argentine striker also looking to be out-of-favour.

'He earned his place on the bench the other night,' said Adams. 'He has worked very hard and he really put it in a shift in the Under-21 game recently (at Chelsea) and scored a goal. That is what you want to hear from senior players in particular when they have to drop down to the Under-21 group, that they do it in the right way.'