Agreement reached to keep loan striker with Derby County until the end of the season.

Derby County have come to an agreement with Premier League Norwich City to extend striker Chris Martin’s loan deal at Pride Park until the end of the season.

The 24-year-old made the switch from the Carrow Road side in late February, on an initial month-long deal that expires in the next few days.

The final game of Martin’s loan spell saw him net his first goal for the Club in the Rams’ 2-1 victory over Leicester City last Saturday, and manager Nigel Clough revealed after the game he was keen to keep the forward at Pride Park.

An agreement has now been reached with Norwich to keep him in Derbyshire until May, with the paperwork due to be completed next week.

Clough said: “We’re happy Chris is sticking around and we were delighted to see him score against Leicester last weekend.


“We have been talking to Norwich for around a week now, so it’s good to get something sorted.


“We’ve been very encouraged by what we’ve seen from Chris and feel there’s more to come from him too.


“He’s not played too many games this season so he’s been a little short in terms of match fitness and that side of his game will improve with the more games he plays, but in terms of his quality and use of the ball we have been very pleased with him.”

Clough has also been impressed with the way Martin has linked up with Republic of Ireland international Conor Sammon in attack, while the Rams boss has stated on several occasions since his arrival that the Norwich Academy product has provided a different dimension to Derby’s attacking talent.

“Chris makes life uncomfortable for defenders in a different way to what our other strikers do,” he said.

“It’s part of a centre-forward’s job to make life for a defender very difficult and Chris does well in that respect, especially physically.


“He drops off into little pockets of space and we like that, and he’s done well linking up with Conor Sammon too so Jamie Ward’s return means we have a good variety of attacking options.”

Martin has made five appearances since joining the Rams in February, after he found life difficult to secure a regular first-team place with Norwich this term in the Premier League, and had been limited to three appearances under current boss Chris Hughton.

Since making his City debut as a substitute against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Carrow Road in January 2007, Martin has gone on to make 117 appearances for the Canaries, scoring 34 goals in the process - 23 of which came in their 2009-10 League 1 title winning campaign.