‘We need guidance’ - Canaries unsure if Duda can complete loan

Norwich City’s contract situation may be largely settled but uncertainty remains around loanees during football’s coronavirus shutdown, with the future of midfielder Ondrej Duda in doubt.

The Slovakia midfielder joined on loan from German top-flight club Hertha Berlin in January and was due to remain with City until the end of the season.

However, with it now being unclear if or when the Premier League season can resume, the Canaries are waiting for guidance from governing bodies - with Berlin potentially returning to action as soon as May 9. City sporting director Stuart Webber explained: “Let’s say the Bundesliga is finished by the end of June, they might quite rightly want their player back. There’s a different coach there now, whereas before, the reason we got Ondrej was because Jurgen Klinsmann didn’t want him, which gave us a great opportunity.

“But we could be starting back in July and they’re starting their next season in August and want their player back.

“So it is going to come down to individual clubs and situations, say Sean Raggett and other players out on loan like Philip Heise.

“So it’s a really difficult one, no one really has the answer to it yet, it will be extremely complicated and will become very tricky because they have got their own interests.”

Luxembourg forward Danel Sinani is due to join City on July 1 but his current club, Dudelange, are also yet to finish their season. And while six of City’s loanees in the National League have already seen their season cancelled, 14 others await news.

There are no current first-team players out of contract this year, though, thanks to Alex Tettey signing a new one-year deal recently - apart from Duda.

Webber continued: “If I’m Hertha Berlin, I’m thinking ‘do I want him injured in July, what if he’s playing for us in August?’ That’s a selfish call and the player himself might say he wants to go back to Hertha and get back in their plans, we don’t know.”

“Duda is probably our big one but you could have had four or five Duda situations and with two or three out on loan. It’s going to be very difficult and there’s a lot to be worked through on that – that’s not our call, we need guidance from the authorities.”

- See the links below for more on City’s financial situation, the potential of players having to defer wages and more on the use of the furlough scheme