GLENN Roeder has rubbished newspaper talk that Chris Martin is being lined-up for a loan move to Crewe and challenged the teenager to prove his worth at Norwich.

Speculation in the press had seen the 19-year-old linked with a temporary switch to the League Two side.

After a season spent largely on the sidelines with just five appearances and no goals to his name so far, a move elsewhere to get first team football would seem to make sense.

But Roeder said he had received no approaches from any other club about taking Martin on loan - and that included Crewe.

"No. I know (manager) Steve Holland very well," he said. "I did my pro licence with Steve last year. He's a fantastic human being and an excellent coach and he would definitely have rung me up. 100 per cent he would have done. And he hasn't.

"Just like the speculation about David Edgar at Newcastle - rubbish. I obviously know David Edgar. He played for me in the youth team like Pattison did and there's been no approach. It's incredible - you get the agent saying 'I know Norwich are interested'. Well, he must be able to read my brain and he must be reading it wrong because I haven't spoken to his agent.

"I deal with any interest in our players individually as and when they come up. There hasn't been any interest. We've got Dion out this week and then he's back the following week and at the moment we're operating with three strikers and Chris is trying to break into that three."

If Martin wants to force his way back into Roeder's thinking, there appears to still be some way to go. His 45-minute run-out against Bury in the FA Cup was the last time he featured for the senior side. Even five goals in two reserve team games ended with Martin finding himself back in Ricky Martin's Academy side the following weekend.

"As we've said before, he needs to do a lot of hard work," added Roeder. "He needs to lose a lot of weight. He's lost seven or eight pounds in the last 10 days and he needs to lose more. He needs to run around more and he needs to be sharper. And I think the young loanees that have come here from the Premiership clubs have given Spillane and Chris Martin something to think about.

"There is a bigger and wider football world outside the boundaries of Norwich and those two should be looking at the 18 and 19-year-olds we've got from the Premiership clubs and thinking 'hold on a minute, I've got to improve to have a career at Norwich'. And I'm desperate for them to. I've got no favourites. I don't favour anyone and I'm not against anyone. I would be desperate for Chris Martin and Michael Spillane to have long careers at Norwich.