Former Norwich City title winner Craig Fleming has linked up with Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg as assistant first team coach to new boss Ralph Hasenhuttl.

The duo got off to a winning start over Easter with a 2-0 away win at Werder Bremen moving the Green and Whites two places clear of the relegation zone.

Fleming, who was part of a Canaries squad that reached the Premier League in 2004 during a decade at Carrow Road, was previously part of Hasenhuttl’s backroom team at Southampton.

The 52-year-old started his coaching career at Lowestoft, but most recently spent nine months at Derby County as head of technical development.

Hall of Famer Fleming was named City’s player-of-the-year for his key role in the 2004 First Division championship season under Nigel Worthington.

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Hasenhuttl had been out of work since leaving Southampton in 2022, and the Austrian has been tasked with keeping the former Bundesliga champions in the German top flight.

VfL have five league games left, including a meeting with Harry Kane's Bayern Munich in their final away fixture.

“In the short term, it’s crucial that we steady the ship and get the points we need to stay in the league. That’s the main priority,” he said, at his official unveiling last month. “I’ll only start talking about other goals once we’ve achieved that first one. I’m not one to dream about next season, because now it’s about securing our place in the league as quickly as possible.

“After a long time away, I’m hungry to work again. Football never goes away when you’re a coach, so after a while you feel that desire to want to do something again. I didn’t have to think long about saying yes to VfL Wolfsburg.

"A very exciting task lies in store for me. I’m very grateful for the trust that has been placed in me.

"After four years in the Premier League, I’m also looking forward to the Bundesliga again. The Bundesliga is still a very attractive league and I owe it a lot.”

Rams’ academy manager Matt Hale admitted Derby could not stand in Fleming’s way when Hasenhuttl came calling.

“We kind of knew that he would be coming for Flem,” he said, quoted by the Derby Telegraph. “We brought in Craig at the beginning of the season and he was with me at Southampton. He was on the first-team coaching structure with Ralph Hassenhuttl and did really well with him in the Premier League.

"Flem has done a great job for us with the rest of the professional phase staff in implementing an evolved player methodology with the under-18s and 21s. Flem was really instrumental in that, but if Wolfsburg come along in the German Bundesliga, we had to let him go.

"He's done a great job for us and we will build on that work he did. We're in a good place to do that.”