CITY boss Glenn Roeder today revealed his efforts to sign another player on loan before Thursday's 5pm deadline were foiled at the last minute by one of the Canaries' Championship rivals.

Although he declined to name either the player or the Club involved, Roeder spoke of his frustration that the player had been signed by another club minutes before the deadline.

He commented: "I can't say who he is because he hasn't come to Carrow Road and I have no need to let our players know who he was because the person playing in that position would feel under more threat than they need to.

"I would have liked this particular player who we tried all of last week to get and I was very disappointed to get a phone call just after five o'clock to say someone else had taken him on loan in the Championship. It disappointed me greatly because we had worked so hard on bringing him here and at the twelfth hour someone has slipped in and taken him away."

Meanwhile responding to questions from the media regarding Shola Ameobi's loan move to Stoke City, Roeder said he had spoken to Newcastle United Director of Football about the deal and was 'very surprised' by the money Stoke had apparently been prepared to pay.

Roeder said the initial loan move itself was understood to be very expensive - and that it was allegedly with a view to a permanent move for the powerful Newcastle target man with a hefty £5m price tag attached.

"I would have liked to bring him here but i was consistently told by Sam Alladyce and then Kevin Keegan that he would not be let out on loan and that he had a future at Newcastle.

"We were always promised a phone call if and when that changed and i found out at seven o'clock yesterday morning that he was probably travelling down to Stoke to tie up a loan deal until the end of the season.

"I spoke to Dennis Wise at length yesterday morning and if Dennis is telling me the truth the amount of loan fee that Stoke have paid is incredible. I personally have not heard of a higher one for such a short period of time though obviously Stoke are having a real gamble over these last five weeks that Shola can shoot them up into the Premier League next year automatically."