Kieran Dowell and Onel Hernandez must kick on to land new Norwich City deals.

David Wagner has issued the key midfield duo a challenge, after eye-catching early Championship displays under the new head coach.

Both Dowell and Hernandez are among a small group of senior players now in the final months of current Carrow Road deals.

“First and foremost, they should perform like they have done, then I think we will sit together and discuss our thoughts, the players thoughts and our thoughts,” said the German. “I can say that I'm very pleased with both of both of them.

"Obviously there is nothing decided. The focus is only the games which are in front of us, or only this next game. Listen, Stuart (Webber) and Neil (Adams) work in an office right next door to mine at the training ground, but it isn't the case that we speak every day about contracts.

"We speak about how can we win the next game, or how can we prepare our team as good as possible. Then sometimes we speak about contracts as well. Even for the players at the minute it is still new, we are still new to them, and the focus remains on performing at the highest level.

"If you perform, you get rewarded -  as a team, as a club and as a player. This is what they need to do.”

Wagner has already publicly hailed the impact of both Dowell and Hernandez since arriving at Carrow Road.

“I'm more than happy to help Kieran, to support him, to educate him to get to another level,” said the City boss. “I said before I have this feeling if he gets on board, regarding how he can get to another level performance-wise as a player, because he is adding so many defensive skills now into his game, then he will reach that next level.

“The same as Onel. There's a lot of work with both to do, but how impressive they were in the first weeks, and how open minded to new ideas, is very, very good.”