Ritchie De Laet has urged City to stick with the attacking formula which has served them so well over the past two seasons.

The new loan signing is being nurtured through his career by one of the greatest managers in the game, Manchester United supremo Sir Alex Ferguson, and will spend the next 11 months on loan at Carrow Road.

It’s been the home of all-out attacking football since Paul Lambert took charge almost two years ago – and De Laet is hoping it stays that way.

“Not everybody can put together back-to-back promotions, which is quite special in itself, and they’ve got the winning mentality now, so everyone is looking forward to being in the big time again,” said the Belgian defender, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Portsmouth.

De Laet saw City up close and personal on that memorable night in May when a Simeon Jackson goal at Fratton Park clinched their return to the top flight – and he’s delighted to be donning the yellow and green in the Premier League.

“It will be very refreshing to see them back in the Premier League because they have played some great football over the past couple of seasons and they definitely won’t look out of place in the top flight,” said the 22-year-old.

“There is a really young and energetic theme running through the squad here, so we might catch some teams by surprise and hopefully we can get some early points on the board.

“The football that they played last season was tremendous at times and not every club can get out of the Championship by that way, but they did it in style.

“They did it the right way in my book and hopefully we can continue that style of play in the Premier League because I’ve played against them and it isn’t easy to stop them.”

De Laet is expected to be at City’s Colney training centre today when the squad returns to training – 12 days before the pre-season schedule begins with a trip to Gorleston and a little under six weeks before City travel to Wigan for their first Premier League fixture since in more than six years. He is one of five new signings, albeit the only loan deal of the summer to date, with Steve Morison, James Vaughan, Elliott Bennett and Bradley Johnson all arriving on permanent deals.

Morison has made the move from Championship side Millwall, and is hoping to be just as big a hit at City as he was with the Lions. “I just want to get into the team first and then play as many games and score as many goals as I can and ultimately help Norwich stay in the Premier League,” he said. “If I do that and show what I am capable of then I’m sure that I can get the fans on my side fairly quickly.”