THE noises from Norwich are encouraging – James Maddison, their precocious midfield talent who’s been a hit during his six-month loan spell at Aberdeen since the summer, could remain at Pittodrie until the end of the season.

Maddison was reluctant to second-guess the thoughts of Alex Neil, his Carrow Road manager, but it would be fair to assume that, as he is unlikely to step straight into the English Championship’s first team, the youngster will be allowed to continue his football education in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, would say only that he was hopeful to retain the services of the player, of whom he is a huge admirer.

And the player himself appeared open to such a possibility as he ticks off what will become career highs for him, long after his north-east sojourn is over.

“He is still young and he still has lots to learn,” McInnes insisted. “But he has brought a different dynamic to us.

"At times we need to adjust to the way he plays the game and we have spoken about that.

"There is no doubt he is a player that the supporters want to see as he has that creative spark that sometimes can affect games.”

Maddison hasn’t found the net since his stunning last-minute winner in the game against Rangers at Pittodrie in September, but the player is unfazed by the absence of goals as he underscored the positives of playing in Scotland.

"Before coming here I didn't actually realise how big the Rangers game was,” he confessed.

"Now I know and to score against them earlier in the season will be one of the highlights of my career and something I'll always look back on.

“Everything has been really positive, to be honest. You go out on loan to gain different experiences.

"I've played in a cup final [the Betfred Cup defeat to Celtic], I've played in front of 50,000 which I hadn’t done before and I've taken a lot of physical knocks.

"All the things you'd tick off for what you’d say is a successful loan."

He was quick to dismiss suggestions, however, that he is a marked man with opponents setting out to ensure his creativity is suppressed.

He argued, too, that accusations of him going down easily under challenges were wide of the mark, though he did call on referees not so much to protect him, but to do their jobs and flash yellow cards when required. He has twice been booked for simulation.

"I'm not a diver,” he insisted. “On both occasions I was wrongly cautioned.

“One was rescinded and the other we didn't appeal but I've watched it back and I still feel as though I was fouled.

“It's hard for a referee and if he thinks that I'm trying to con him then he'll book me for diving even I think it was wrongly.

"It's going to happen, you see it the Premier League every week. I'm not a diver, I get fouled quite a lot as it is so I don't need to buy cheap free-kicks.

"I get kicked a lot but it's not really something I think about, I'm just playing my game.

“If I'm dribbling with the ball I'm just thinking about how I can get to goal or how I can get to a team-mate. I'm not thinking about winning free-kicks.

“If they foul me then I trust the referee to make the right judgement.

"I've kind of always received that treatment just because of the way I play. It's been heavy here. At the end of the day it doesn't bother me. Everybody keeps telling me I've been in for this rough treatment but it doesn't really faze me to be honest.

"As long as the ref is taking the right action and giving a yellow card when it should be and giving me that protection so they can't keep going in and doing it then that's fine. I'll just bounce back up and keep going.

"I don't like to talk about the refs and how they should protect me but I want them to show a yellow card when it is a yellow card whether it's in the first minute or the 60th minute.

“If the offenders get a yellow card they won't keep doing it.”