Norwich City boss Alex Neil has ruled out a raid on his old club Hamilton for highly-rated young full-back Stephen Hendrie.

The 20-year-old's proposed transfer to Premier League West Ham collapsed earlier this month but Neil confirmed on Friday afternoon he is not interested in a swift reunion.

The Scot was credited with a key role in the early development of former Accies' trainees James McArthur and James McCarthy, now both operating in the top flight, and the City manager believes Hendrie has the potential to join them.

'Stephen has a chance. The only thing I would say is he is not quite there at the moment,' he said. 'At the club I am at I can not afford to plan long term and look at two or three years down the line. I have to plan for the here and now and I need somebody ready to come in and hit the ground running and I am not convinced Stephen is ready to do that right now. For a club like West Ham they might look at it as an investment for three or four years down the line and that could be good business on their part.'

Neil is not looking to strengthen that area of his squad unless Martin Olsson departs, with the Swede the subject of an initial enquiry from Swansea City last week.

'We have pinpointed a lot of targets and depending on how the window goes between now and the final couple of days will really dictate how we go,' he said. 'I know Stephen really well. There has been a lot of speculation and it is not an area I really feel we need to go and push for unless something happens with Swansea and Olsson but at the moment it is not one we need to strengthen. We have (Javier) Garrido there who is more than capable of doing a good job for us.'