DAVID CUFFLEY City boss Glenn Roeder today described how he landed his latest loan capture - thanks to a bit of gentle persuasion with former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.

DAVID CUFFLEY

City boss Glenn Roeder today described how he landed his latest loan capture - thanks to a bit of gentle persuasion with former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Manchester City striker Ched Evans, just 18, has joined the Canaries until January 1, arriving at Carrow Road the day after he scored a hat-trick for Wales Under-21s against France.

Evans becomes Roeder's fourth loan signing since he took over as manager three weeks ago, but he admitted he wasn't sure he would get his man when he decided to approach Blues boss Eriksson.

Said Roeder: “Ched has a very, very good goalscoring record at Manchester City at youth team level. Stuart Pearce knows him very well and I know a few other people who have watched him come up through the ranks.

“I was not sure he would be allowed to go out but I've worked as a scout for Sven in the past.

“I actually did the deal before the Wales game where he scored the hat-trick. When I spoke to Sven after the game and asked if it had changed anything, he said 'Yes, the price has trebled!'

“It was a good joke but then he told me I could have him until January 1.”

Evans, who is available for Saturday's Coca-Cola Championship home game against Coventry, scored an excellent opening goal for Wales in Tuesday's European Under-21 Championship qualifier against France at Ninian Park, Cardiff - then added two late penalties to secure a 4-2 victory. The match attracted a crowd of just 250 but was shown live on Sky Sports.

Evans in fact made his senior debut for Manchester City in the closing stages of this season's Carling Cup tie against the Canaries, but hasn't featured for the first team since.

He said he was relishing his time at Norwich.

“It's just a great club,” said Evans. “It's a good opportunity to play in the Championship and play at a good level of football. I'm doing well at the moment. I just want to see if I can do it in the Championship, really. That'll be the challenge.”

Evans has scored 12 times in eight starts in the FA Premier Reserve League this season - and is confident he can give the Canaries' goalscoring record a welcome boost.

He told the club's official website: “If I can go out on loan and do well then hopefully I can break into Man City's first team. If I do well at Norwich it gives me every chance, so I'm looking forward to coming, hopefully scoring some goals for them and getting them off the bottom. I need to be playing competitive football now. It's a great chance. I've been looking at the games and there haven't been many goals.

“I work hard, I've got an eye for goal and I'm a winner.”

Evans follows defender Martin Taylor (Birmingham), midfielder Matty Pattison (Newcastle) and full-back Mo Camara (Derby) as Roeder loan signings at Norwich, all except Taylor having joined since the 3-0 defeat at Plymouth on November 10.

Chelsea midfielder Jimmy Smith was already with City on a temporary basis before the new boss arrived.

Roeder can name a maximum of five loan players in any one squad - but there is nothing to stop him bringing in more reinforcements and he said he would be working right up to today's deadline to try to do so.

He said: “It's proving very difficult to try to secure senior players. Managers don't want to let senior players out, even if they are down the pecking order, because of injuries. They try to keep as many as possible around. If they do let them out, you come up against the problem I mentioned before - they don't always want to come here on loan because they're sitting too comfortably.”