Darren Huckerby will not be dropping a division in his search for a new club after being released by Norwich City. The former Canaries' star has had offers from several Coca-Cola Championship clubs since being told he was not going to be offered a new contract at Carrow Road, and rejected the idea of dropping to League One.

Darren Huckerby will not be dropping a division in his search for a new club after being released by Norwich City.

The former Canaries' star has had offers from several Coca-Cola Championship clubs since being told he was not going to be offered a new contract at Carrow Road, and rejected the idea of dropping to League One.

Swindon, Southend and Oldham had all been linked with audacious bids for the out-of-contract forward, but playing in English football's third tier is not on the agenda for the player named one of Norwich's all-time greatest stars earlier this month.

The 32-year-old still has plenty to offer - his final goal in Norwich colours at Hillsborough in his last City appearance being the perfect example - but there is a Plan B up his sleeve if the offers being made fail to lead to a move.

“It's positive but if it's not, I'll just watch Norwich. I got my season ticket last week so it's not a big problem to me,” admitted Huckerby with a wry smile.

However, it is hard to imagine Huckerby will not have a club to play for by the time August arrives.

“At the minute I've got quite a few offers from Championship clubs and a few higher but, like I've said, I don't want to play against Norwich,” said Huckerby. “So it's looking like I'm going to be looking further afield to be honest.”

Further afield could well mean a trip across the Atlantic to join the MLS party in the United States, in particular Toronto FC who still have Huckerby's former team-mates Jim Brennan and Carl Robinson on their books.

“I think Toronto own my rights at the minute, even though I haven't spoken to anyone there or anything, so it's very, very strange,” he said. “It's one of the possibilities. I'm very lucky that I've had a pretty good career so far so hopefully those options will be open to me.

“It's very different over there. Everything's above board over there and everything has to be done by the letter. You can't speak to anyone until things have been agreed, so it's a very complicated process but we'll see what happens.”

Fellow MLS side San Jose Earthquakes have also expressed an interest in taking Huckerby to America, but the forward is off limits until Toronto make a decision on whether they want the player themselves.

Closer to his Norwich home, Premier League side Aston Villa and Scottish Premier League champions Celtic have both been mooted as potential destinations for the man who used to light up Carrow Road, but both would be unlikely according to Huckerby.

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan is well aware of Huckerby's talent having managed the winger at Coventy, while Villa boss Martin O'Neill tried to tempt him North of the Border while he was in charge of the Hoops in 2000.

“I don't think so,” said Huckerby You look at those clubs and they've got very good players. Villa have got very good attacking players and they're probably 10 years younger than me, so I wouldn't have thought that,” he added.

“But you never know with Gordon. I've known him for a long time and we've worked well together before, so it may be an option, but we've still got a little bit of time before the start of the season.”