DAVID CUFFLEY City boss Peter Grant today scotched transfer talk linking skipper Adam Drury with Derby County. Weekend reports suggested the 28-year-old left-back was on the new Coca-Cola Championship leaders' shopping list.

DAVID CUFFLEY

City boss Peter Grant today scotched transfer talk linking skipper Adam Drury with Derby County.

Weekend reports suggested the 28-year-old left-back was on the new Coca-Cola Championship leaders' shopping list.

But Grant said he was not aware of any interest from the Rams, who went top of the table after a 1-0 win at Southend on Saturday.

He said: “I haven't seen anything or had any contact about Adam. The good thing about his situation is that we hold all the cards.

“He has 18 months left on his contract. We want to keep our best players and he's one of our best players.”

Derby were reported to be interested in Drury back in the summer, but his importance to the Canaries was underlined by his reappointment as captain and, though he was sidelined for four matches after an early-season ankle operation, he has missed just one match since Grant's arrival as manager in October.

With nine days to go before the January transfer window closes, the City boss said he was still hoping to add to his squad.

He said today: “We are trying hard but at the end of the day we are just waiting for calls. It could all change with one phone call.”

After the postponement of Saturday's Championship game at Burnley, he said he had not given up hope of bringing in new faces before the FA Cup fourth round trip to Blackpool on Saturday.

He said: “Unfortunately a lot of clubs you're hoping to do business with have collected injuries themselves so they become a problem and some people have decided against coming for different reasons. I've no problem with that but obviously I'm trying desperately to bring players in.”

The postponement has at least given centre-back Jason Shackell an extra week to recover from an ankle injury.

Grant admitted Shackell would have had an uphill battle to make the Burnley game.

He said: “That's one positive about it. We're hoping it will clear up and he will be available next Saturday. It was a problem he had on the morning of the Plymouth game but he was desperate to play.

“He didn't train all week but hopefully we'll have him back in full training. He would have been struggling on Saturday.”

The two City players out on loan had unhappy weekends. Centre-half Craig Fleming was in the Wolves side beaten 2-1 at home by Cardiff in the Championship, while Ian Henderson played for Rotherham in their 4-0 League One defeat at Millwall.