On a manic day of transfer activity at Carrow Road, the Canaries confirmed tonight that Manchester City have agreed to extend Ched Evans' loan spell until the end of the season.
In other transfer news, young forward Ryan Jarvis has left the club for his fourth loan spell, this time joining League Two outfit Notts County until the end of the season.
The 21-year-old has already spent the first half of the season in the SPL after five months at Kilmarnock yielded just four league starts.
Now the Fakenham-born striker has been handed another chance to prove his worth after Notts missed out on 34-year-old veteran Shrewsbury Town marksman Andy Cooke this afternoon. Cue a call to Roeder to see what he had going spare.
Out of contract this summer, it is close to now or never for Jarvis Snr. Particularly when you strongly suspect that Roeder will be looking to haul in some big, strike fish this summer – pushing the one-time England Under-16 striker even further down the manager's pecking order.
A new contract might not figure too large – unless, of course, Jarvis can pull up some big trees at County.
As for Evans, the Welsh Under-21 striker has been a massive hit during his time at the club and the news will come as a further boost to City fans after the earlier arrivals of Matthew Bates, Reading duo James Henry and Alex Pearce and Kieran Gibbs.
It has certainly been a busy day for Roeder and Co and with Simon Lappin heading towards the exit door to join Motherwell for the rest of the season, the Norfolk transfer-merry-go-round shows no sign of slowing down.
Evans originally joined the Canaries at the end of November but was recalled by Eastlands boss Sven Goran Eriksson when his deal expired on January 1st.
It took much persuasion to convince Eriksson to let the Welshman come out to play and despite the fact his second deal was due to run out and the end of February, Evans has now signed on the dotted line and will see out the rest of the season in Norfolk.
That, it appears, was all very much nip and tuck until the last minute with City officials convinced that the boy would not be allowed to see out the rest of the campaign with the Canaries.
Daniel Sturridge's sudden appearance in a City shirt after a wretched six months stuck on the sidelines with a hip injury proved just enough to persuade Eriksson otherwise.
19-year-old Evans has, of course, been in red-hot form as the Canaries continue their 10-match unbeaten run and it was his goal that clinched a vital three points at Southampton on Tuesday night.
Evans had previously announced his re-arrival with the first in a 3-1 win at Barnsley and Canary supporters will be hoping his goals can fire City to mid-table safety.
In truth, Eriksson's own wheeling and dealing has paved the way for Evans' extended tour of duty and as it stands, Portsmouth hitman Benjani looks set to link up with the former England manager in a ?9m deal.
Earlier in the day, another striker was bolted on to Eriksson's plans in the shape of Ecuador international Felipe Caicedo. The FC Basel man is joining the cash-rich club for ?5.2m.
With speculation regarding Scunthorpe's leading goalscorer Martin Paterson refusing to go away, it promises to be a busy night. Don't go too far away?
Tom Haylett
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