Chris Lakey Norwich City have offered defender Jens Berthel Askou a contract. The 26-year-old Dane joined City on their Scotland tour as a triallist and did enough in three pre-season starts to warrant an offer.

Chris Lakey

Norwich City have offered defender Jens Berthel Askou a contract.

The 26-year-old Dane joined City on their Scotland tour as a triallist and did enough in three pre-season starts to warrant an offer.

Canaries boss Bryan Gunn is now awaiting an answer from Askou, who has returned to Denmark to sort out personal business - but revealed that he had consulted former Canaries defender Steen Nedergaard as part of his “due diligence” process.

“We have made Jens an offer and we are currently waiting to hear back from his representatives,” said Gunn. “He is in Denmark, he had to go back for a personal situation to sort out.

“Certainly we were impressed with what we saw with Jens from his time with us. We have also spoken to Steen Nedergaard in Denmark and did some background work on his previous playing record. We know that he was playing in Turkey so we did a bit of due diligence and the fact that he has come in and done so well and settled in with the squad we have decided to offer him a contract.

“We are currently waiting to hear back from Denmark for that response. I would expect him to have other offers, but certainly I am hopeful because he has come in and he has integrated with the squad in Scotland and impressed the other players in the squad and it looked like he enjoyed his time here.

“If it wasn't for a personal problem that he needed to go back to sort out he could have still been with us today and we would have been having more personal discussions and unfortunately it's at the end of a telephone at the moment, but he's certainly one that we were keen to make happen if everything is right for Jens as well.”